Shah Bano Case - 1985 | Legal Reasoning for CLAT PDF Download

Introduction

• Ahmad Khan V/S Shah Bano Begum is a landmark lawsuit that has dealt with the problem of “Triple Talaq Verdict”. This case is normally mentioned as the “Shah Bano Case”.
•  It is considered to be a very debatable and problematic legal contest in India. This lawsuit has substantiated to be a milestone in the struggle for rights, freedom for Muslim women.

Background

1. Mohd Ahmed Khan (the appealing party) who was a lawyer by profession, married to Shah Bano Begum (the respondent) in 1932, had three sons and two daughters from this marriage.
2. In 1975, when Shah Bano’s age was 62 years, she was disowned by her spouse and was tossed out from her marital home together with her children.
3. In 1978, she filed an appeal in the presence of the Judicial Magistrate of Indore, because she was abandoned from the maintenance of Rs. 200 per month, which was guaranteed to be provided by him. She demanded Rs. 500 per month as maintenance.

Subsequently, the husband gave her irrevocable triple talaq on November 6th, 1978, and used it as a defence to not pay maintenance.  The magistrate, in August 1979, directed the husband to pay an entirety of Rs 25 per month as maintenance.

• Shah Bano in July 1980 made a plea to the High Court of M.P, to change the sum of maintenance to Rs. 179 each month, and the high court increased the maintenance to the said amount i.e. Rs. 179 per month.
• The same was challenged by the spouse within the Supreme Court as a special leave petition to the High court’s decision.

Additional Information:

Judges involved  in the Shah Bano Begum case (1985) were V Chandrachud, D.A Desai, O.Chinnappa Reddy, E.S Venkataramiah, Rangnath Misra.

Issues

1. Criminal Procedure Code (II of 1974), Section 125.
   Whether the “WIFE” definition includes a divorced Muslim woman?
2. Criminal Procedure Code (II of 1974), Section 125.
   Whether it overrides personal law?
3. Criminal Procedure Code (II of 1974), Section 125.
   Whether a Muslim husband’s obligation to provide maintenance for a divorced wife is in or not in the conflict between section 125 and Muslim Personal Law?
4. Criminal Procedure Code (II of 1974), Section 127(3) (b).
   What is the sum payable on divorce? The meaning of Mehar or dower is not summed payable on divorce?

Judgement

The verdict of the Shah Bano case was conveyed by C.J. Chandrachud

1. All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Jamiat ulema-e-Hind were the two Muslim Bodies that accompanied the lawsuit as an intervenor.
2. On 3rd Feb. 1981, Supreme Court gave a like-minded conclusion in this case and banished the plea of Mohd. Ahmad Khan and validate the verdict of the High Court.
3. The court held that Section 125[3] of the Code Of Criminal Procedure solicited to Muslims too, without any sought of discrimination.
4. Supreme Court in this case duly held that since the responsibility of Muslim husband towards her divorced wife is limited to the extent of the” Iddat” period, even though this situation does not contemplate the rule of law that is mentioned in Section 125 of CrPc.,1973[4]

According to Supreme Court, this rule according to Muslim Law was against humanity or was wrong because here a divorced wife was not in a condition to maintain herself.

Thus in the end, after a very long procedure court finally concluded that the husband's legal liability will come to an end if the divorced wife is competent to maintain herself.

But this situation will be reversed in the case when the wife is not able in a condition to finance or maintain herself after the Iddat period, she will be entitled to receive maintenance or alimony under Section 125 of CrPc.

Conclusion

Though the court took a long time the decision of rejecting the appeal is very historic because it keeps up the truth and faith of the individuals in the judiciary.

• This judgment has marked the significance of maintenance which ought to be given to the divorced Muslim women who are not in the condition to earn and maintain themselves.
• The Shah Bano judgment pulled in a lot of opposition with authoritative bodies being against the decision for the reason of it being against the provisions of Islamic law, but SC passed the impartial judgment and at last, it had maintained the trust and faith of citizens in the judiciary.
• This led to the enactment of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 which given Muslim women receiving a huge, one-time payment from their husbands amid the period of Iddat, instead of a maximum month to month payment of INR 500 – an upper limit which has since been expelled.

So, related to this case is hence the issue of the Uniform Civil Code in India

Status of Personal Law in India

1. Personal law subjects like marriage, divorce, inheritance come under the Concurrent List. Hindu personal laws have been largely secularized and modernized by statutory enactments.
2. The Hindu personal laws (that apply also to the Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists) have been codified by the Parliament in 1956

This Code Bill has been split into four parts:

1. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
2. The Hindu Succession Act, 1956
3. The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956
4. The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956

• On the other hand, Muslim personal laws are still primarily unmodified and traditional in their content and approach.
• The Shariat law of 1937 governs the personal matters of all Indian Muslims in India.
• It clearly states that in matters of personal disputes, the State shall not interfere and religious authority would pass a declaration based on his interpretations of the Quran and the Hadith.
• Apart from it, Christians and Jews are also governed by different personal laws.

Need for a Uniform Civil Code

Different personal laws promote communalism and it leads to discrimination at two levels:

1. First, between people of different religions.
2. Second, between the two sexes.
3. Uniform Civil Code will provide women with the right to equality and justice in courts of law- irrespective of their religion in matters pertaining to marriage, divorce, maintenance, custody of children, inheritance rights, adoption, etc.

The Supreme Court in the Shayara Bano case (2017) had declared the practice of Triple Talaq (talaq-e-bidat) as unconstitutional.

Constitutional challenges

Freedom of religion gets into conflict with the right to equality.

1. Article 25 lays down an individual’s fundamental right to religion.
2. Article 26(b) upholds the right of each religious denomination or any section thereof to “manage its own affairs in matters of religion”
3. Article 29 defines the right to conserve distinctive culture.

These rights get into conflict with the equality before law enshrined under articles 14 and 15.

Moreover, an individual’s freedom of religion under Article 25 is subject to “public order, health, morality”.

• In 2018, a report by the Law Commission of India stated that the Uniform Civil Code is “neither necessary nor desirable at this stage” in the country. The Commission said secularism cannot contradict the plurality prevalent in the country.

Social-political challenges

• In the name of uniformity, the minorities fear that the culture of the majority is being imposed on them.
• Given the vast cultural diversity in India, bringing uniformity among all such people will be a huge challenge.
• The patriarchal mindset of Indian society poses a big challenge in the implementation of UCC. This can be reflected by the fact that the Hindu code bill has been already in place from the mid-1950s, yet the quantum of land actually inherited by Hindu women is only a fraction of the land they are entitled to.

Merits of Uniform Civil Code

National Integration

A unified code is imperative, both for the protection of the vulnerable sections in Indian society(women and religious minorities) and for the promotion of national unity and solidarity. 

Simplification of laws

• There exist so many personal laws like Hindu code bill, Shariat law, etc.
• The presence of so many laws creates confusion, complexity and inconsistencies in the adjudication of personal matters, at times leading to delayed justice or no justice.
• UCC will eliminate this overlapping of laws.

Simplification of the Indian legal system

UCC will lead to a reduction in litigation emanating from multiple personal laws.

Establishing a secular society

• UCC will de-link law from religion which is a very desirable objective to achieve in a secular and socialist pattern of society.
• Moreover, it fulfils constitutional mandates under Article 44 of Directive Principles of State Policy.

Gender justice

• The rights of women are usually limited under the patriarchal discourse through religious laws.
• UCC will liberate women from patriarchal domination and provide them with the right to equality and liberty.
• In the long term, UCC would lead to the defeat of the communal and the divisionist forces.