Nikah halala is a controversial practice which forbids a divorced couple from remarrying.
New Delhi: After the Narendra Modi Government took a bold step to criminalise instant triple talaq, the Centre now plans to solidly support a move to declare “nikah halala” and polygamy “unconstitutional”.
Nikah halala is a controversial practice which forbids a divorced couple from remarrying until the woman marries someone else, consummates her new marriage and gets divorced or widowed
The Centre is to support a bunch of petitions filed in the Supreme Court to declare “nikah halala” and polygamy “unconstitutional”.
The Centre would extend its support to petitioners when the matter comes up next in the SC, sources said. The court had earlier this year agreed to hear the petitions.
Nikah halala is being defended by the clergy but slammed by women’s activists who have called it retrograde and anti-women and have moved the SC to get it banned.
The Supreme Court had issued notice to the Centre and the law ministry on the matter asking it to respond to the plea seeking to declare the provisions of Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) which validate the practice of polygamy and nikah halala as unconstitutional.
The Centre has taken a stand to back the petitions challenging the two practices.
This move will obviously win the support of Muslim women who are increasingly becoming independent and are keen to fight injustice perpetrated against them in the name of religion.