The Supreme Court of India has undertaken a case to review a judgment from the Kerala High Court, which affirmed the unilateral right of Muslim women to dissolve their marriages through ‘Khula’, a provision within Muslim Personal Law. This decision, initially celebrated as a significant step forward for women’s rights within the Muslim community, is now facing scrutiny following a petition filed by the Kerala Muslim Jamaat and an individual.
Justices AS Bopanna and Sanjay Kumar of the Supreme Court have issued notices in response to the challenge against the Kerala High Court’s verdict. The disputed judgment arose from an appeal regarding the annulment of a marriage under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, where the High Court upheld a Muslim wife’s absolute right to seek divorce, as sanctioned by the Holy Quran, regardless of her husband’s consent.
Reaffirming its position, the Kerala High Court clarified that, except for ‘Faskh’ (judicial dissolution of marriage), all forms of extrajudicial divorce under Section 2 of the Shariat Act are accessible to Muslim women.
This interpretation was further affirmed when a review petition against the judgment was rejected, emphasizing that a wife’s decision to seek ‘Khula’ should not be subject to her husband’s approval. The court emphasized that such a right, enshrined in the Quran, should not be nullified by the husband’s unwillingness to consent to the divorce.
The High Court’s assertion brought attention to the lack of a formal mechanism in India for recognizing a wife’s termination of marriage without her husband’s consent. It suggested that in such circumstances, ‘Khula’ could be initiated independently of the husband’s agreement.