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The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear the plea seeking direction to declare the practice of Talaq-e-Hasan and other forms of unilateral extrajudicial Talaqs void and unconstitutional, tomorrow.

A bench of Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Vikram Nath ordered the same upon urgent mentioning of the matter by Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay. Upadhyay mentioned the matter stating that the victim has already received two Talaq notices and the final notice will come on June 19.

Earlier, Senior Advocate Pinki Anand appearing for the petitioner Benazeer Heena had submitted, "Talaq E Hasan is unilateral, irrevocable and similar to triple talaq. So if the court will not hear the matter, talaq will be final on 19th June."

Immediately after the Court asked the petitioner to make a request before the registry, Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, speaking with LawBeat, told that the matter was mentioned before the Registrar and they have assured that the matter will be listed this week.

Earlier, before that a bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Bela M Trivedi had also asked the petitioner's counsel to mention the matter again next week observing that there is no urgency in the matter. 

The PIL plea filed by Benazeer Heena through Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay notes that "Muslim women can’t give Talaq-E-Hasan & other forms of unilateral extra-judicial talaq but Muslim men can."

The plea further seeks direction to frame guidelines for gender-neutral, religion-neutral, uniform grounds of divorce & uniform procedure of divorce. As per the plea, Heena has filed the PIL for the development of socially-economically downtrodden and marginalized citizens.

The plea claims that Heena married one Yusuf Naqi as per Muslim rites on December 25, 2020, and a male child was born from wedlock. It has been alleged that Heena's parents were compelled to give dowry and later she was tortured for not getting a big dowry.

The plea further states that Heena's husband and his family members tortured her physically-mentally not only after the marriage but also during the pregnancy which made her seriously ill and when Heena’s father refused to give dowry then her husband gave her Unilateral Extra-Judicial Talaq-E-Hasan through a Lawyer. Heena has argued that such a divorce is totally against Articles 14, 15, 21, 25 of Indian Constitution and United Nations Conventions.

The plea states that "the practice also wreaks havoc to lives of many women and their children, especially those belonging to the weaker economic sections of the society." 

The plea demands the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, to be declared void and unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, and 25 in so far as it fails to secure for Muslim women the protection from “Talaq-E-Hasan and other forms of unilateral extra-judicial talaq.

An Intervention application has opposed the plea challenging provisions that allow the practice of Talaq-e-Hasan and other forms of unilateral extrajudicial Talaq's under muslim law.

The application filed by one Qurrat Ul Ain Latif has contended that the petitioner woman has already "benefitted" from this practice of extra-judicial divorce which is already permissible under Shariat.

"In that she was able to exit a bad marriage without having to go to the court and add to pendency of judicial proceedings," the application states.

Case Title: Benazeer Heena Vs. Union of India & Ors.