Out of Shah Bano’s shadow: Muslim women’s rights and the Supreme Court’s triple talaq verdict

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn a 2017 judgment, the Supreme Court of India invalidated triple talaq – a mode of instant, unilateral, extra-judicial divorce available to Muslim males. This mode of divorce has been widely criticized for making Muslim women vulnerable to threats of instant divorce and the resulting destitution. This note scrutinizes three formulations of the problem pursued by the judges in this case: triple talaq as constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion; as a violation of the fundamental right to equality; and as a practice disapproved within Islamic legal traditions. The note argues that the third formulation (the majority verdict), that eschewed constitutional rights analysis in favour of reforming Muslim personal law from within, along with wide participation of Muslim women’s groups in the litigation, suggests new directions for the debate on Muslim personal law in India.