The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that a private religious body styling itself as an “Idara-E-Shariya Islami Court” has no legal authority to adjudicate upon the marital status or legal rights and obligations of individuals.
Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad made the observation while partly allowing a writ petition challenging an order dated January 18, 2022, issued by the Idara-E-Shariya Islami Court, which had purportedly declared that the petitioner had been divorced from her husband through Triple Talaq.
The petitioner had challenged both the authority of the religious body and the legal effect of its decision, contending that it could not determine her marital status or dissolve her marriage.
The High Court, referring to the Supreme Court’s judgment in Vishwa Lochan Madan v. Union of India, reiterated that adjudicatory powers must flow from a validly enacted law. A Dar-ul-Qaza or similar religious body is not created or recognised as a court by law, and an opinion or fatwa issued by such an institution does not constitute judicial adjudication.
The Court held that the Idara-E-Shariya “cannot be recognised as a Court constituted under the Constitution or any statute” and has no jurisdiction to determine whether the petitioner stood divorced from her husband.
It further held that the January 18, 2022 communication was, at best, a religious opinion or communication issued by a private body and could neither create, extinguish nor alter any legally enforceable right or marital status. Such an opinion also could not be enforced through coercive legal process.
The petitioner had married the respondent after the death of her first husband. The respondent allegedly claimed that her children from the first marriage were unable to adjust with the new family and, on that basis, subjected her to Talaq-e-Biddat/Triple Talaq. An FIR had also been registered and proceedings were pending before competent authorities when the Idara-E-Shariya issued its communication.
While the Court declined to examine the constitutional validity of Talaq-e-Hasan, noting that related matters were pending before the Supreme Court, it made clear that such pendency could not confer jurisdiction on a private religious body that otherwise had none.
The Court emphasised that religion may guide individual faith and conscience, but no religious institution can assume the authority of a court established by law or use religious belief to determine or enforce an individual’s legal status and rights.
Accordingly, the Court declared the January 18, 2022 communication, insofar as it purported to determine the petitioner’s marital status or dissolve her marriage, to be without legal authority and incapable of altering any legal right, status or obligation.
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