Does Anyone Has this Circular Issued by maharashtra Govt?
If anyone Can Post Link or Upload, or Arrange to Scan it
Thanks,
Zameer R.
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Publication: The Times Of India Bangalore;Date: Dec 24, 2009;Section: Times Nation;Page: 10
Splitsville made easy for Muslim couples
Maharashtra Government Validates Divorces Entered Through Shariat Route
Swati Deshpande | TNN
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has now made life easier for married Muslim couples who have entered splitsville through the Shariat route. The state has carved an exemption for Muslims and clarified that Muslims who have taken or given divorce or dissolved their marriage through a talaq, khula, mubarat or talaq-e-taswiz will be treated as being validly divorced. They no longer have to still approach the family court or any other court of law to have such divorce declared as valid. The recent circular issued by the inspector-general of registration and marriage registrar at the Pune headquarters is little known even to many lawyers.
It essentially says that Muslim divorce not granted by courts are legally valid without necessasiting the often
cumbersome process of filing a declaratory petition before the family court to get them validated.
It is a boon for those wishing to remarry soon. Prior to the exemption, despite a talaq, khula or consented divorce under Islamic law, Muslims still had to produce a decree from the family court for various government authorities including passport and even marriage registratars to recognize it as legal. Bandra Family Court Bar Association president Nilofer Akhtar said the state’s move would help many Muslim women
dissolve the marriage at her instance without going to court. “She can seek khula through a mufti expeditiously. She can then use the khula certificate as a valid legal document for passport, visa or even remarriage.” The exemption also will help Muslim women given talaq by their husband to proceed immediately to a magistrate’s court for a fair and reasonable provision as maintenance for life or till her remarriage under the Muslim Women’s Act.
So far, a divorce not granted by the family court, including divorce under Shariat law, annulment or judicial separation or sodchitthi (a customary form of divorce decided by a village panchayat) was not legal. The state has now made an exception for Muslim divorces.
The state’s move is being largely hailed as a positive step for Muslims who were made to do multiple trips to court, engage lawyers and incur huge expenses for essentially asking the family court to approve an extra-judicial form of divorce already granted or executed. It also meant unnecessary delay, said lawyers Mridula Kadam and Mrinalini Deshmukh. Kadam said one of her clients, a young Muslim woman, a couple of years ago was unable to remarry under the Special Marriage Act despite her talaqnama as the marriage registrar in Mumbai insisted on a divorce decree from the family court and refused to accept the talaqnama as a valid document. Her ex-husband had already left India on work. “He was in the US and I advised her that, as things stood, she would have to move the family court to get her divorce declared as being valid and for that she would need to serve a notice on her husband through the embassy and wait for
him to appear before the court. The court would then have regular hearings to examine the document to ascertain that the talaqnama was proper before passing an order to declaring it valid. It could take six months to a year,” said Kadam. She added, “The issue is that the procedure meant much hardship for the Muslim couple.
Now with the government’s new circular, they would be saved the trouble and delays involved.”
But Deshmukh warned that the rule could be open to abuse and advocate Rina Pujara, whose client had moved the Splitsville made easy for Muslim couples
Bandra family court this week only to be told that the petition would not be accepted in wake of the new rule, said, “The rule cannot tie the court’s hands. A talaq may be obtained fraudulently especially among the uneducated and such frauds are exposed only during court hearings.”
A HASSLE-FREE SEPARATION
It is a boon for those wishing to remarry soon. Prior to the exemption, despite a talaq, khula or consented divorce under Islamic law, Muslims still had to produce a decree from the family court for various government authorities including passport and even marriage registratars to recognize it as legal
Splitsville made easy for Muslim couples
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