Telangana High Court lays down guidelines for Khula under Muslim personal law

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has come up with a detailed step-by-step procedure for granting Khula, a form of dissolution of marriage initiated by the wife under Islamic law, without requiring her husband’s consent, under Muslim personal law.

A division bench comprising Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya and Justice BR Madhusudhan laid down a comprehensive roadmap for all the parties, including the wife, husband, Muslim scholars/muftis and the family courts.

• Reconciliation efforts will be a prerequisite before granting Khula, in accordance with Quranic directive in Chapter 4, Verse 35.
• The High Court ruled out vetoes for husbands. His refusal cannot override the wife’s decision to seek a divorce through Khula.
• While Muslim scholars or muftis may issue a fatwa or khulanama, it will be treated as non-binding and advisory in nature.
• If the husband disagrees with the issued advisory khulanama, he may challenge it through the legal process.
• Family courts have been directed to dispose of pending Khula divorce cases in a summary and time-bound manner.

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Many view the High Court’s decision as a balance between traditional Islamic practices and modern ideas of justice and gender equality. “It satisfies conservative scholars by recognising religious mediation, while also meeting Muslim women’s demand for equality and swift relief,” according to advocate Mubasher Hussain Ansari, who argued the case.

Legal experts and women’s rights advocates hailed the decision as “a progressive step and a beacon of hope for Muslim women in Telangana and across India who are stuck in unhappy marriages.”

Khula is a traditional procedure in Islamic jurisprudence that enables a Muslim woman to initiate a divorce. This process involves the woman returning the mehr (dowry) and any possessions she received from her husband during their marriage. Alternatively, the divorce may occur without the need to return anything, as mutually agreed upon by the spouses or ordered by a judge, depending on the specific circumstances.

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