Nikah Halala

In News

• Recently, Public interest litigation (PIL) was filed seeking the annulment of halala marriage and polygamy.

More about the news

• About PIL:
  • The PIL was regarding the annulment of Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, to be declared arbitrary and in violation of Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25 of the Constitution. 
  • The litigant requested the court to ensure that provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, apply to all Indian citizens. 
    • She contended that nikah halala is rape under IPC Section 375.

What is Nikah halala?

• About:
  • Nikah halala is a law that requires a woman to marry and sleep with another man in order to return to her first husband.
  • In Islam, ‘halala’ is a term that finds its roots in ‘halal’ that translates to something that is permissible, and therefore ‘lawful’. 
    • In the context of marriage then, it means that a divorced woman can become ‘halal’ (lawful) for her husband again after nikah halala is complete.
• The procedure:
  • Islam dictates that a Muslim man has the liberty to divorce and remarry the same woman twice. 
  • However, if he decides to dissolve the marriage for the third time, he can only remarry the same woman if she first marries another man, consummates the marriage, and only if the man dies or willingly asks for divorce, can the woman go back to her first husband and remarry him.
    • Usually, nikah halala stems from instant triple talaq and ends with it.
• Quranic justification:
  • Halala, the way the Koran speaks of it, empowers women to take independent decisions. 
  • It saves women from temperamental husbands who divorce in a fit of anger, then cancel it, then divorce again, unleashing an endless cycle of marriage and divorce.
• Global scenario:
  • In Saudi Arabia, where divorces are on the rise, no cases of halala have been reported. 
  • No case has been reported from the UAE, Kuwait and Yemen either.

• Indian Law on Nikah Halala:
  • In India, the Muslim Women’s Protection of Rights on Marriage, passed after invalidation of triple talaq by the Supreme Court, is silent on nikah halala. 
  • The Act made instant triple talaq a criminal offence but steered clear of halala which takes place as a consequence of triple talaq. 

Issues:

• In modern India, nikah halala has been manipulated and misused. 
• Rapes:
  • There are cases of rapes on women by keens on the name of Halala.
• Websites offering halala marriage:
  • In the midst of this, several websites and social media pages have emerged offering halala marriage services to women who’ve been divorced by their first husbands.
• Blackmailing and extortion:
  • Many women who approach these services are either blackmailed or taken advantage of. 
  • Many are asked to pay large sums of money. 

Way Ahead

• In patriarchal societies, religious laws have often been lopsided, favouring men. 
• Laws such as triple talaq and nikah halala are not only archaic, but they are also debilitating for Muslim women. 
• The legality of such laws needs to be challenged and subsequently discarded.

Source: TH