'Nikah Halala' Case: Supreme Court to set up five-judge Constitution Bench after two Judges Retired

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today has announced that it will arrange a Constitution Bench comprising of five judges to hear appeals confronting the constitutional validity regarding polygamy and 'nikah halala' customs among Muslims.

A Bench is inclusive of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha citing the submissions of lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, who registered one of the PILs on the matter, that a fresh five-judge bench was required to be represented as two judges of the earlier Constitution Bench as Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Hemant Gupta have retired.

There are very crucial issues pending before a five-judge bench and will be initiated one by one bearing this matter in mind, the CJI stated. The subject was earlier referred to on November 2, last year also by Upadhyay.

On August 30, 2022, a five-judge board encompassing Justices Hemant Gupta, Indira Banerjee, M.M. Sundresh, Surya Kant, and Sudhanshu Dhulia made the National Commission for Women (NCW), National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) parties to the PILs and looked for their responses.

Later, Justice Banerjee and Justice Gupta retired on September 23 and October 16 this year respectively giving rise to the need for re-constitution of the Bench to hear as many as eight petitions against the practices of polygamy and 'nikah halala'. Upadhyay, in his PIL, was on the lookout for a direction to announce polygamy and 'nikah halala' as illegal and unconstitutional.

Polygamy permits a Muslim man to have four wives, while 'nikah halala' deals with the process in which a Muslim woman, who wishes to re-marry her husband following her divorce, has to first marry another person and get a divorce from him after the consummation.

Also Read: DCW Chief Swati Maliwal Dragged by Intoxicated Car Driver, says Delhi Police

Also Watch: