Firoz Bakht Ahmed, the former Chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University and the grandnephew of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad has moved the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the practice of Talaq-E-Hasan is void and unconstitutional.
He has filed an application for intervention in the petition filed by Benazeer Heena, a journalist who had approached Supreme Court seeking the same relief.
Firoz Ahmed has sought directions from the Court to the Union of India to frame guidelines for uniform grounds and procedures for divorce for all citizens.
In the application filed by Advocate Atulesh Kumar, it is submitted that Talaq-e-hasan and other forms of unilateral extra judicial talaq are an evil plague similar to 'sati'. It is stated that many poor women in Muslim society are leading a pathetic life due to the practice of Talaq-E-Hasan.
He has prayed for a complete ban on Talaq-E-Hasan and all other forms of unilateral extra-judicial talaq.
Benazeer Heena had stated in her petition that her husband had given her the first notice of Talaq through a Lawyer's notice. Later, Senior Advocate Pinky Anand had mentioned the case before the Court stating that Benazeer received her second notice of Talaq.
However the Bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Bela Trivedi had said that there is no urgency in the matter. When the Senior Counsel insisted, the Bench said that the matter may be mentioned again the next week.
On May 30, Benazeer was present in Court through video conference when the matter was mentioned again by Senior Advocate Anand before the Bench headed by Justice Ajay Rastogi. The Bench declined the request and asked the Petitioner to make an application before the Registrar instead.
Then on June 20, 2022, Benazeer received her final notice of Talaq vide a Lawyer's notice but her matter had not been listed before the Court.
When the matter was listed last week, the Bench comprising of Justice S. K. Kaul and Justice M. M. Sundresh granted time to the Counsel for Petitioner Senior Advocate Pinky Anand to seek instruction from the petitioner Benazeer Heena on the question from the Court whether she is open to divorce by mutual consent if meher is taken care of.
Apart from Banazeer's petition, another petition has been filed challenging Talaq-e-Hasan, seeking a declaration that all forms of unilateral extrajudicial Talaq including Talaq-e-Hasan by Nazreen Nisha, a Mumbai resident praying for a direction to the Centre to frame guidelines for gender-neutral, religion-neutral uniform grounds of divorce and uniform procedure of divorce for all. She had received Talaq by text message.