The Supreme Court will now constitute a bench to conduct proceedings on pleas related to polygamy and nikah-halala, which is practised among Muslims.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that it will form a new bench to deal with the issues. The court direction came when advocate Ashwini Upadhyay this morning mentioned the plea seeking to ban Nikah Halala and Polygamy.
Earlier also, petitions challenging these practices were listed before a 5 judge bench comprising Indira Banerjee, Hemant Gupta, Surya Kant, MM Sundresh and Sudhanshu Dhulia. The petition sought the declaration of polygamy and nikah-halala as unconstitutional and illegal. The petitioners have demanded a ban on both such activities on the pretext that they violate the fundamental rights of women. The bench had issued notices to the National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Women and the National Commission for Minorities.
The practice of nikah-halala requires a divorced woman to marry someone else, consummate the marriage and then get a divorce in order to again marry her first husband under Muslim personal law. On the other hand, polygamy is the practice of having more than one wife or husband at the same time.
