Supreme Court Asks Benazeer Heena To Consider Divorce By Mutual Consent If Meher Is Taken Care Of
The Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice S. K. Kaul and Justice M. M. Sundresh grants time to the Counsel for Petitioner Senior Advocate Pinky Anand to seek instruction from the petitioner Benazeer Heena on the proposal of the Court that whether she is open to divorce by mutual consent if meher is taken care of?
The Court had while posing the question before the Petitioner had observed that, "Prima facie this is not improper. Women also have an option of Khula. Prima facie I do not agree with the petitioners. I don't want to make an agenda of it for any other reason."
Benazeer, a journalist, had approached the Supreme Court in the first week of May this year stating that her husband has given her the first notice of Talaq through a Lawyer's notice. In her Petition, Benazeer had also sought a direction to the Centre to frame guidelines for neutral and uniform grounds of divorce and procedure for all citizens.
Earlier, the Petition was mentioned by Senior Advocate Pinky Anand on May 25 stating that Benazeer has already received her second notice of Talaq. "It is about a woman being abused", the Senior Counsel told the Court.
The Bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Bela Trivedi 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, the Benazeer was present in Court through video conference when the matter was mentioned again by Ms. 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.
On June 16, the case was again mentioned by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay before the Bench of Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Vikram Nath, stating that Benazeer has received the second notice and that the Talaq will become final with the third notice. The Bench agreed to list the matter.
Benazeer received her final notice of Talaq vide a Lawyer's notice dated June 20, 2022. The notice makes many allegations against her including that she had revealed to her husband that her family members including her brothers are actively involved in promoting 'Love Jihad' by alluring Hindu girls into marriage for the purpose of converting them to Islam.
Benazeer has said that the allegations about 'Love Jihad' etc. are totally false and that she will take legal action against him for making false and defamatory allegations against her and her family.
An FIR was registered in April 2022 for offences under Sections 498A, 332, 504, 506, 406 of IPC and the Dowry Prohibition Act against the then husband and his relatives on a complaint by Banazeer before the Vijay Nagar Police Station, Ghaziabad.
