Today, On 17th April, The Supreme Court agreed to examine if Muslims can be governed by the secular Indian Succession Act for ancestral property matters instead of Shariat law. A Bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna took note of a Kerala resident’s plea seeking such governance without renouncing Islam.
The Madras High Court ruled that only state-constituted courts, not private bodies like the Shariat Council, can issue marriage dissolution certificates. Dismissing a husband’s petition, the Court emphasized that if talaq is disputed, the husband must obtain a judicial declaration for it to be valid. Without this, the marriage remains legally recognized, protecting the wife’s rights.
