On Plea Of Mohammad Shami’s Wife Seeking Gender-Neutral Divorce Laws, SC Issues Notice

The Supreme Court has issued a notice on a plea filed by Hasin Jahan, the estranged wife of Indian cricketer Mohammad Shami, which sought fresh guidelines for uniform divorce laws based gender and religion neutral grounds.

The plea was tagged with an already pending petition on the issue. The matter is being heard by a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud.

The petition filed by advocate Deepak Pradesh said that Jahan is an aggrieved wife due to the unilateral form of extrajudicial divorce, 'Talaq-Ul-Hasan'. The petitioner got a notice of the first pronouncement of divorce under 'Talaq-Ul-Hasan' issued by Mohammad Shami on July 23 last year, a report by news ANI said.

When she received the notices, she spoke to her near ones who mentioned similar grievances, whereby husbands had unilaterally divorced them at their own whims and fancies, the petition read.

Hence the petitioner moved the court seeking adjudication on large issues related to "Talaq-E-Hasan and all other forms of unilateral extrajudicial talaq" which are still in force under the Muslim Personal Laws, the petitioner said.

It also argued that the other forms of unilateral divorce exist where Muslim men have unfettered powers to divorce Muslim women in a whimsical and capricious manner. The women are denied any right of reconciliation and the Muslim divorce laws are discriminatory in nature, the petitioner said. This violates the basic fundamental rights of women which are guaranteed under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian Constitution, the petition said.

Hence the petition sought to frame guidelines for gender-neutral religion-neutral uniform grounds for divorce and uniform procedure of divorce for all.