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Petition filed in Supreme Court for declaring ‘Nikah-halala’ and polygamy as unconstitutional

Dated: June 20, 2018

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking that the practices of polygamy and 'nikah-halala' be declared "unconstitutional" as they violate the fundamental rights of women. The said petition has been filed by Delhi BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. It must be observed that the Apex Court has already struck down the practice of ‘triple talaq’ as unconstitutional few months back.

Nikah-halala is an Islamic practice wherein a man cannot remarry his previous wife without her going through the process of marrying someone else, getting it consummated, getting divorced again and observing a separation period called the Iddat before coming back to him.
The petitioner alleged that the practice of polygamy and nikah-halala is injurious to basic rights guaranteed under Articles- 14 (equality before law), 15 (prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth), 21 (right to life and personal liberty) and public order, morality and health. 

The petition also stated that the provisions of the IPC are applicable on all citizens of India and nikah-halala constitutes rape under Section- 375 (Rape) of the IPC, and polygamy is an offence under Section- 494 (marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife) of the Indian Penal Code.
Justice J.S. Kehar (ex-Chief Justice of India), while dealing with the Triple Talaq case, had informed the litigants that the court would not look into the issues of polygamy and nikah-halala and would remain only focused on instant talaq.

The matter has been listed for hearing on March 16 before the Chief Justice of India. The petition also makes an appeal to implement the Uniform Civil Code and the law commission has also been requested to look into the matter.