All India Muslim Personal Law Board has approached the Supreme Court to oppose a plea for uniform grounds for divorce for all citizens irrespective of their faith.
In an application, the non-governmental organisation working for implementation of Muslim personal laws, sought to intervene into a PIL by BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, saying personal laws cannot be tested on the anvil of Articles 14, 15 and 44 of the Constitution.
It asked the court to dismiss the PIL on the ground that it was not maintainable.
"The laws related to marriage and divorce were not uniform amongst the Hindus themselves as the customs and practices have been protected under the law," it pointed out.
The organisation also contended the personal laws stood excluded from the definition of laws in force under Article 13 of the Constitution.
On December 16, 2020, the court had asked the Union government to respond to the PIL by Upadhyay for uniform grounds for divorce and maintenance and remove discriminatory procedure prevailing in different communities for being violative of fundamental rights to equality, among others.
Maintaining that divorce is among the most traumatic misfortunes for men and women, the petitioner said even after 73 years of independence, divorce procedures continued to remain very complex and were neither gender-neutral nor religion-neutral.
Hindus Buddhists Sikhs and Jains have to seek divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955. Muslim, Christian and Parsis have their own personal laws. Couple belonging to different religion have to seek divorce under the Special Marriage Act, 1956. If either partner is foreign national then he has to seek divorce under Foreign Marriage Act 1969, he pointed out.
(Published 13 February 2021, 12:21 IST)
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