CHENNAI: The Madras high court advised Muslim women seeking legally legitimate “Khula (divorce)” to contact only family courts, saying that Shariat councils are neither courts nor arbitrators of disputes authorised to pronounce on annulment of marriage. “While it is permissible for a Muslim woman to exercise her inalienable rights to dissolve the marriage by ‘Khula,’ as recognised under the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat Application Act), it can only be done by approaching a family court,” Justice C. Saravanan ruled in 2017, nullifying a Khula certificate issued by a Shariat council. The judge instructed the petitioner’s wife to seek a Khula, or legal dissolution of her marriage, through the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority or a family court. Even under customary law, “a self-declared body comprising of a few members of Jamath” cannot issue a certificate of annulment of marriage, according to Justice Saravanan.
The spouse had stated in his appeal that “extra-judicial rulings such as a fatwa or a Khula certificate” had no legal standing and could not be carried out by any person or “private” organisation. The local Shariat council opposed the claim, arguing that because the Kerala High Court had allowed the practice in a related case, the husband’s appeal could not be upheld. The Kerala High Court’s decision, according to Justice Saravanan, “upheld solely the Muslim woman’s right to unilateral divorce through Khula, but has not endorsed the involvement of private organisations like the Shariat council,” rejecting the argument. He declared that “private bodies like the Shariat council cannot pronounce or confirm the dissolution of marriage by Khula.” According to the court, only family courts have the authority to dissolve marriages under Section 7(1)(b) of the Family Courts Act, the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, and Muslim Personal Law (Shariat).
