Talaq, if disputed, should be backed by judicial declaration: Madras HC

THE Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently observed in a case that if a Muslim woman disputes the pronouncement of talaq, the husband must obtain a judicial declaration for dissolution of marriage. Such declaration can be issued only by courts and not a Shariat Council, which is a private body, it added.

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Justice G.R. Swaminathan made the observations while dismissing a revision petition filed by a Muslim man against an order passed by a lower court in Tirunelveli, directing him to pay ₹5 lakh compensation and ₹25,000 monthly maintenance to his wife over charges of cruelty.

While the man claimed to have served three talaq notices to his wife in 2017 and subsequently married another woman, the wife denied the claim and said she did not receive the third notice and that their marriage still subsists.