'Muslim women should approach only family courts not Sharia councils for divorce'

    01-Feb-2023   
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The Madras High Court said that Muslim women should approach only family courts and not private bodies like the Shariat Council, consisting of a few members of the community, in order to seek divorce.
 
Muslim women on divorce 
 
 
A bench of Justice C. Shivaraman quashed a Khula certificate issued by the Shariat Council of Tamil Nadu Towheed Jamath, Chennai, and directed the estranged couple to approach a family court or the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority to resolve their disputes. The judge issued the direction while hearing a petition of a man seeking the court quash the Khula certificate obtained by his wife from the Shariat Council in 2017.
 
 
IANS reported that the petitioner also contended that the Shariat Council, registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975, has no authority to issue such certificates. He also told the court that he had filed a petition restoring conjugal rights in 2017 and obtained an ex-parte decree also.
 
 
The judge further said that only a judicial forum was empowered to pass a decree to dissolve a marriage under Section 7(1)(b) of the Family Courts Act, 1984.