The Shariat Council is not a court; no power to issue certificate of divorce : Madras High Court

Chennai – Shariat Council can help in resolving family and financial problems; but the Madras High Court has held that the council does not have the power to issue divorce certificates and impose fines, this time dismissing the petition related to the triple talaq case.

During the hearing, the court observed –

1. The husband has to go to the local court and not the Shariat Council for divorce. This formula cannot be left to the husband’s ex parte decision; because by doing so, the husband will become the judge of his own case.

2. The husband has married twice. The second marriage of the husband caused emotional pain to the aggrieved wife, which is cruelty. If a Hindu, Christian, Parsi or Jewish husband remarries while the first marriage exists, it will be considered a crime of religious marriage and cruelty.

3. This shall be clearly construed as a case of domestic violence, under which the wife is entitled to compensation under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. This proposal will also apply to Muslims.

What is the matter ?

In 2010, a Muslim couple got married and a few years later the husband gave triple talaq to the wife. Tamil Nadu’s Thowheeth Jamaat (Shariat Council) issued a certificate of divorce to the couple. After this, the husband remarried. The victim wife filed a petition in the Tirunelveli Judicial Magistrate’s Court against the certificate. In 2021, the magistrate ruled in favour of the victim wife. The husband will have to pay Rs 5 lakh per month for domestic violence and Rs 25,000 per month for the maintenance of her minor child. The husband had filed a petition in the sessions court against the magistrate’s court’s decision, after which the husband had moved the Madras High Court. High court has also dismissed this petition.