A view of premises of the Supreme Court of India, in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to respond to a plea by a Kerala-based woman, born a Muslim but now a non-believer, to be governed by the secular statute of Indian Succession Act of 1925 rather than the sharia law.
Appearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Shafiya PM, represented by advocate Prashant Padmanabhan, said the fundamental right to religion under Article 25 of the Constitution includes both the right to believe and not to believe.
Chief Justice Chandrachud remarked that the 1925 specifically did not include Muslims within its ambit.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Union government, said the prayer in the petition came within the legislative domain as it could be realised only with an amendment in the 1925 Act.
Nevertheless, the court asked the government to file a response to the petition.
The petition filed by Mr. Padmanabhan for Ms. Safiya said the apex court had emphasised on the “fundamental postulate of secularism which treats all religions on an even platform and allows to each individual the fullest liberty to believe or not to believe”.
Mr. Padmanabhan submitted that a person who leaves her faith should not incur any disability or a disqualification in matters of inheritance or other important civil rights. The petition said a person born a Muslim is governed by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937.
“Persons who do not want to be governed by the Muslim Personal Law must be allowed to be governed by the secular law of the country, viz, the Indian Succession Act, 1925 both in the case of intestate and testamentary succession,” the petition said.
Ms. Safiya, who is general Secretary of Ex-Muslims of Kerala, said that a person who leaves her faith in Islam, is ousted from her community and not entitled for any inheritance right in her parental property.
“The petitioner wishes to get a declaration that she shall not be governed by Muslim Personal Law for any of the matters listed in Sections 2 or 3 of the Muslim Personal Law [Shariat] Application Act, 1937, but there is no provision either in the Act or in the Rules wherein she can obtain such a certificate. There is a clear vacuum in the statute which can be plugged by judicial interpretation,” the petition noted.
It noted that the legal vacuum would leave the petitioner with no recourse to succeed to her parental property even if she officially got a no-religion, no-caste certificate from an authority. eom
Published – October 24, 2024 12:34 pm IST