The Supreme Court sought responses from the Centre and others on uniform safeguards for Muslim divorces. The petition challenges unilateral divorce and seeks constitutional protections for women and children.
Newdelhi,Oct 16, 2026 13:30 IST
The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Centre and others on a petition seeking uniform safeguards and guidelines for all forms of divorce under Muslim personal law, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The petition also challenges the validity of ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’, under which a Muslim man can dissolve a marriage by pronouncing ‘talaq’ once a month over three months. It seeks a ban on this and other forms of unilateral divorce outside court.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was told by the petitioner’s counsel that the validity of ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’ had also been challenged. The bench linked the petition with a separate pending plea filed by a Muslim woman who has challenged the ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’ given by her husband, PTI reported.
Under ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’, the divorce becomes final after the third pronouncement of ‘talaq’ in the third month if the couple has not resumed living together. If they resume cohabitation after the first or second pronouncement, they are considered to have reconciled.
The fresh petition has asked the authorities to declare ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’ and other forms of unilateral divorce outside court an evil that should be banned. It has also sought adequate economic and social protection, with retrospective and continuing effect, for divorced women and their children affected by arbitrary forms of divorce.
It has sought a direction to the Centre to “frame and implement uniform procedural safeguards and legally enforceable guidelines governing all forms of ‘talaq’/divorce under Muslim personal law, so as to ensure fairness, reconciliation, transparency and protection of the fundamental rights of women guaranteed under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution”.
The petition has also asked the court to direct the Centre to declare Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, unconstitutional to the extent that it recognises and validates ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’ as a valid form of divorce. It further seeks comprehensive, gender-just and religion-neutral safeguards for the dissolution of marriages, including divorce under personal laws, in line with Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.
Article 14 concerns equality before the law, while Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Article 21 protects life and personal liberty.
The petition has further sought a declaration that the “absence of statutory safeguards regulating polygamy under Muslim personal law, insofar as it permits a Muslim man to contract multiple marriages without ensuring equality, dignity, informed consent, financial security and constitutional protection to the existing wife/wives, is arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution”.
It has also sought a declaration that entering into another marriage without the free, prior and informed consent of the existing spouse, while concealing or suppressing such an intention, is arbitrary and unconstitutional.
In 2017, the Supreme Court declared triple ‘talaq’, another form of divorce practised among Muslims, unconstitutional after finding it arbitrary and in violation of women’s fundamental rights. The latest petition asks the court to examine ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’, other unilateral forms of divorce and the safeguards available to women and children under Muslim personal law.
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