Muslim women can divorce unilaterally: Telangana High Court

"A wife's right to khula is parallel to a husband's right to talaq"

- S VENKAT NARAYAN

In a significant ruling that underscores the autonomy of Muslim women in India, within personal law, the Hyderabad-based Telangana High Court has held that a Muslim wife has an absolute and unconditional right to dissolve her marriage through khula, and that the husband's consent is not a prerequisite for its validity.

Khula is a form of divorce under Islamic law, where a woman initiates the dissolution of her marriage, typically by relinquishing her claim to maintenance (mehr).

India is home to 200 million Muslims, making the country with the third largest Muslim population, after Indonesia and Pakistan.

Delivering the judgment on June 24, a bench of justices Moushumi Bhattacharya and BR Madhusudhan Rao noted that khula is a no-fault, non-confrontational mode of divorce, initiated solely at the wife's instance, and once the demand is made, it takes immediate effect in the private sphere.

"Since the wife's right to demand khula is absolute and does not have to be predicated on a cause or acceptance of the demand by the husband, the only role of a court of law is to put a judicial stamp on the termination of the marriage, which then becomes binding on both parties," it said.