There is a sharp fall in number of cases of instant triple talaq and increase in number of Muslim women seeking as per Islamic law after the passage of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019.
Data from the Darul Qazas shows most cases of divorce are filed through khula.
Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, Imam of Aishbagh Idgah. who also heads an Islamic centre and Darul Qaza (Shariat court) said, “More Muslim marriages end with ‘khula’, the Muslim women’s inalienable right to talaq, and not as it is widely perceived through instant triple talaq, which has been set aside by the Supreme Court verdict in 2017, or through talaq-e-hassan, divorce at the man’s initiative.”
He said the data of Darul Qaza, or Islamic arbitration centre, show most cases of divorce are filed through khula, and an increasingly larger number of women are opting to end their marriage through khula.
“There is sharp fall in the cases Muslim men divorcing their wives. The Muslim men, for fear of law banning triple talaq, don’t reveal that they have divorced their wife. In such cases Muslim women approach the Darul Qaza and their marriage is dissolved by the Shariat court.
Unlike talaq, which is pronounced by man, in the case of khula, it is the woman who initiates divorce and surrenders her mehr (wealth transferred or promised to the woman at the time of marriage) at the time of such a divorce. Khula can be affected orally or through a document called ‘khulnama’. It has the effect of an instant divorce. If the mehr has not been given to the woman by the time she opted for khula, she cannot demand it as the marriage is being called off at her behest.
While cases of talaq-e-biddat are automatically ruled out due to the very nature of the act, there are few cases coming to the Islamic arbitration centres of women complaining against cases of talaq-e-hassan, the pronouncement of talaq three times separated by at least a month between each pronouncement, which is mutual divorce granted to a Muslim couple by the Shariah.
