The Supreme Court ordered to pay Rs 10,000 every month to the father who had not given even 1 paise to his child for 3 years. When the lawyer father claimed that his income was only around Rs 20 thousand, the court arranged for him to get the case from the Legal Services Committee. The bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant did all this in a case where the validity of the divorce done three years ago is in dispute.
What is the matter?
Benazir Hina, a resident of Ghaziabad, was given Talaq-e-Hassan (talaq-e-Hassan (talaq pronounced 3 times at an interval of 1 month) by her husband Yusuf in 2022, but Yusuf did so through a lawyer. That means, divorce was sent to Benazir thrice with the signature of the lawyer. Benazir approached the Supreme Court, calling it illegal. He also challenged the system that gives unilateral right to divorce to Muslim men.
What happened in the last hearing?
In the last hearing held on November 19, the Supreme Court also raised questions on granting divorce on behalf of someone else instead of the husband. Then senior lawyer MR Shamshad, appearing for Yusuf, admitted that this was wrong. Shamshad expressed his intention to correct this mistake.
On behalf of Benazir, the court was told that due to the unclear status of divorce, she is facing problems in everything like getting her 4 year old child admitted in school, getting a passport made, opening a bank account etc. Everywhere their marital status and consent of the child’s father is sought. Yusuf has remarried after the alleged divorce. Never even paid any expenses for his child. On this the court asked Yusuf to appear personally in the next hearing.
what happened today?
In the hearing held on Wednesday, December 3, the Supreme Court ordered the passport authority, banks and UIDAI (Aadhaar authority), apart from the child’s school, to prepare the documents of the child without any hassle. After this, it was told from Yusuf’s side that he has started divorcing Benazir afresh. However, the court did not comment on this.
Advocate Syed Rizwan, appearing for Benazir, demanded monthly expenses of Rs 20,000 for the child. On this, Yusuf said that he is a small lawyer earning around Rs 20-21 thousand. The court asked to give Rs 10 thousand. Yusuf expressed his inability on this also. After this the Chief Justice said that Yusuf should be given some work from the Supreme Court Legal Service Committee. If they get 2 cases every month then there will be no problem in bearing the expenses of the child.
Other women have also reached court
Benazir Hina’s case is not the only one in the court. Many Muslim women including Nazreen Nisha, Syeda Ambreen, Nasreen, Safia, Asma have reached the Supreme Court. All have described themselves as victims of one-sided Muslim divorce. There is a demand to give constitutional rights to Muslim women like other women of the country. The court has said that it will hear the case in detail and give its decision on Muslim divorce.
Next hearing on January 21
The next date of the case has been fixed for January 21. The court has also asked Benazir’s husband Yusuf to compensate for not paying any expenses for the child for 3 years. Tell us about any lump sum amount. Benazir’s lawyer said that Yusuf has talked about starting the divorce afresh. Right now he is not commenting on this. In the next hearing, he will be cross-examined on whether this process is also correct according to Shariat or not.