Madurai: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has ruled that the Shariat Council was a private organisation and not a legal court to issue divorce certificates.
A bench of Justice GR Swaminathan made the ruling while hearing the civil revision petition of a woman doctor, whose husband, also a doctor, was issued a divorce certificate in 2017.
The bench of Justice Swaminathan, who heard the husband's criminal review petition, ruled that the wife was entitled to alimony as per the Domestic Violence Act.
“Only courts duly constituted by the state can deliver judgments,” the bench said while finding the Shariat Council's divorce certificate to the husband “shocking”.
The Muslim doctor couple from Tirunelveli got married in 2010 following Islamic customs. While both have a son from this marriage, in 2018, the woman filed a complaint under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005. The Judicial Magistrate had issued an order in 2021 directing her husband to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation and Rs 25,000 per month as alimony and maintenance.
The same decision was upheld by the Sessions Court in 2022, after which the woman's husband filed a Criminal Revision Petition in the High Court.
The bench said that divorce can only be obtained legally through the court, and the two will be considered as husband and wife until the court officially declares it. “You have to prove to the court that you have pronounced talaq as permitted by law,” Justice GR Swaminathan said.
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