BHOPAL: Unhappy with the judgments given by qazis, muftis and maulvis, ‘women shariat courts’ along the lines of Darul Qaza (Islamic courts) will be set up in the state by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) in the next six months.

In the first phase, the courts — Auraton ki Shariah Adalat — were set up in Dindigul (TN), Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad on July 6. In the second phase, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, UP, Bihar, Karnataka and Jharkhand will be taken up in six months’ time, said a BMMA office-bearer.

The courts will handle cases relating to Muslim women, especially talaq, and dispense speedy justice. The BMMA is a secular organization led by Muslim women fighting for the citizenship rights of Muslims.

The all-women courts will function as per the injunctions of the Quran and dispense speedy justice to women. Initially, the BMMA will train 20 women on the rights of women as per the Quran.

“The BMMA received a lot of complaints from women from all over the country about unilateral divorce (‘triple talaq’) and refusal by husbands to give any maintenance or support,” BMMA state convener Safia Akhtar told TOI. “There is practice of unilateral divorce, which is often communicated through a postcard, an SMS, a letter via relatives or just communication on the phone. All these go against the tenets of the Quran where there a time-bound process for divorce is laid down. The fact that husbands go to Darul Qaza (Islamic courts) and get fatwa (decree) from the qazi regarding talaq is unacceptable.”

