Sharia Courts have no legal backing: Supreme Court

On 7^th July 2014, the Supreme Court gave judgment in the case of Vishwa Lochan Madan v. Union of India. The bench of Justice C.K Prasad and Justice P.C Ghose observed that Sharia courts do not have any Constitutional validity. However, the court declined to pass orders putting a ban on such courts.

The Writ Petition was filed by an advocate, Mr Vishawa Lochan Madan. Two very disturbing cases where wives were forced by such courts to separate from their husbands after their fathers in law raped them. In both cases the so called courts acted on their own, without any complaint from any of the persons concerned. In the first case, one lady, Imrana, was raped by her father in law. The Dar-ul-Uloom of Deoband issued a Fatwa in regard to the “marital status” of the woman. The Fatwa quoted the Holy Quran which reads: “Marry not the woman whom your father copulated”.  The marriage was dissolved and the husband and wife were restrained from living together. The shocking part was that neither approached the Dar-ul-Uloom. The second case was exactly the same.

The petitioner prayed the court for a declaration that such activities being pursued by All India Muslim Personal Law Board and other such organizations in the establishment for Muslim Courts and Sharia Courts are illegal and unconstitutional.

The Central Government maintained that Fatwas were advisory in nature and had no legal backing. Dar-ul-Qaza could be construed as an alternate means of dispute resolution in an amicable and inexpensive manner. However, they do not have any authority to enforce their judgments so they were not in conflict with the Indian judicial system. Various State Governments also stated that Fatwas have no legal value.

The Court observed:

            "It [fatwa] has no legal sanction and cannot be enforced by any legal process either by the Dar-ul-Qaza issuing that or the person concerned or for that matter anybody. The person or the body concerned may ignore it and it will not be necessary for anybody to challenge it before any court of law. It can simply be ignored. In case any person or body tries to impose it, their act would be illegal."   

The Supreme Court termed ‘Fatwa’ as “an informal justice delivery system with an objective of bringing about amicable settlement between the parties”. The court refused to declare the process of issuing of Fatwas as illegal as it was within the discretion of the persons concerned whether to “accept, ignore or reject” it. However the court issued a warning:

            "No Dar-ul-Qazas or for that matter, anybody or institution by any name, shall give verdict or issue Fatwa touching upon the rights, status and obligation, of an individual unless such an individual has asked for it."