Muslim marriages are contracts, can’t be ended by husband alone: Allahabad HC

The Islamic practice of triple talaq is unsustainable and bad in law because Muslim marriages are contracts that cannot be unilaterally rescinded by the husband, the Allahabad high court has said.

The court’s observation came while hearing a petition filed by a man whose wife is pursuing criminal charges against him for allegedly torturing her for dowry and then divorcing her when she refused to pay.

Hearing in the case ended on April 19 and details of the judgment were made public on Tuesday. The court dismissed the man’s plea to scrap criminal proceedings against him.

The Islamic practice under which a man can divorce his wife by saying “talaq” (divorce) thrice has grabbed national headlines after a bunch of women approached the Supreme Court against the custom. The government has opposed triple talaq in SC and said it was unconstitutional because it was gender discriminatory.

A five-judge bench of the top court will start hearing the petitions demanding scrapping of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy from May 11, the first time the SC is giving up its two-month summer break.