New Delhi: Muslim Personal law flows from the Holy Quran and as such honourable Apex court of the country cannot take it subjected to any scrutiny based on principle s of the Constitution of India, said by the powerful body of Muslim clerics, namely, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.
An Advocate representing body filed a JUH application and this application contains that, the validity of the Mohammedan law cannot be tested on a challenge based on Part- III of the Constitution of India, as it is founded essentially on the Holy Quran and also it cannot fall within the purview of the expression, ‘law in force’ used in Article 13 of the Constitution of India.
This assertion on behalf of the said Jamiat will open a challenge against the intentions of extending the principle of gender equality to Music women and it can also open a fresh phase in the debate on whether personal laws based on religion can trump the Constitution. Also, the BJP- led Government will be required by this debate to spell out its stand on the fraught issue.
While entertaining a petition, last year, a bench comprising of Two- Judges, Justice Adarsh Goel and Justice A. R. Dave had directed the separate Public Interest Litigation to be registered for considering the rights of Muslim Women, looking to the situation that there was no safeguard against arbitrary divorce and second marriage by Muslim Men while the first marriage is in subsistence. Also, in this connection, a notice to the Attorney general and National Legal Services Authority- NALSA was issued by the Court.
As such, a Bench headed by Chief Justice T. S. Thakur and comprising of Justice R. Banumathi and Justice A. K. Sikri, on this Friday i.e. on 5th day February, 2016 took up the petition titled ‘Muslim Women’s Quest for Equality’ and also it has agreed to make JUH a party to this proceeding. Moreover, court has also sought responses from the JUH and also from AG and NALSA in relation to this question, in six weeks.
In its application, JUH has also referred to Article 44 of the Constitution of India and said that said article is envisaging Uniform Civil Court is only a directive principle and is not enforceable.
Adv. Faim Khalilkhan Pathan