Relief for divorced Muslim women

New Delhi, Dec. 4: Recognising the right of Muslim women beyond the iddat period under the Family Court Act of 1984 and other relevant legal provisions, the Supreme Court has held that a divorced Muslim wife would continue to get maintenance from her ex-husband if she doesn’t remarry.

Senior clerics, however, say the judgment does not go with the tenets of the Islamic law.

The top court said the maintenance claim on a divorced husband could not be restricted to the iddat period, which extends to four months under Muslim law.

A bench comprising Justices B. Sudershan Reddy and Deepak Verma gave the ruling on an appeal by Shabana Bano from Gwalior against a judgment of the state High Court, which had restricted the maintenance of Rs 2,000 to her to the iddat period.

“The appellant’s (Bano’s) petition under Section 125 of the CrPC would be maintainable before the family court as long as the appellant does not remarry. The amount of maintenance cannot be restricted for the iddat period only,” the bench observed.

The High Court had accepted her husband Imran Khan’s plea that under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, passed after the Shah Bano controversy, the woman was not entitled to any maintenance allowance after the iddat period.

The apex court rejected this contention and ruled that under CrPC Section 125 and Section 7 of the Family Courts Act, 1984, a Muslim woman can claim maintenance from her husband as long as she has not remarried.

“It is crystal clear that even a divorced Muslim woman would be entitled to claim maintenance from her divorced husband as long as she does not remarry. This being a beneficial piece of legislation, the benefit thereof must accrue to the divorced Muslim women,” the Supreme Court said.

Shabana had filed a suit to claim maintenance before the trial court after her divorce and it allowed Rs 2,000 maintenance to her but only for the four-month iddat period. She filed an appeal in the high court, which rejected it and upheld the lower court order. Not satisfied, she filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.

Senior cleric Moulana Anwar Ahmad of Jamia Nizamia, a deemed Islamic university, however says the judgement “does not match” with the Islamic law. The Supreme Court has been delivering such orders from time to time. Payment of maintenance, even after the Iddat period in case of a woman who does not marry, will lead to domestic problems.

“If the law is enforced, a man will not divorce his wife but keep on troubling her. The woman too may trouble her ex-husband by not remarrying and having affair with someone else,” he said.