New Delhi: The Centre has reportedly decided to support the petition against ‘nikah halala’ and polygamy when it comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court.
Nikah halala is a controversial practice, according to which, a divorced couple cannot marry until the woman marries someone else, consummates her new marriage and gets divorced or widowed. Women’s activists call it retrograde and anti-women and have petitioned the apex court to get it banned.
As reported in The Times Of India, the SC had earlier issued a notice to the Centre and the Law Ministry and had directed them to respond to the plea seeking to un-constituionalize the provisions under Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) that validates the practice of polygamy and nikal halala.
The Centre, revealed sources, is preparing itself to back the petition challenging the two practices.
The Centre’s backing comes amid the decision of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), a voluntary organization that successfully petitioned the SC against instant talaq, to join the petitioners demanding an end to nikal halala and polygamy.
