The All India Muslim Personal Law Board has batted in favour of Polygamy and the terribly oppressive practice of Nikah Halala in a submission to the Supreme Court. The submission was in response to a PIL filed by Ashwini Upadhyay of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The AIMPLB emphasized that ‘Mohammedan Law is based on Holy Quran and Hadith’ and that such practices can’t be tested on the basis of fundamental rights.



“That personal laws do not derive their validity on the ground that they have been passed or made by a legislature or by other competent authority. The fundamental source of personal laws are their respective scriptural texts,” the plea of AIMPLB said. “The Mohammedan law is founded essentially on the Holy Quran and the Hadith of the Prophet Mohammed and thus it can’t fall within the purview of expression ‘laws in force’ as mentioned in Article 13 of the Constitution and hence its validity cannot be tested,” it added.

“A member of the religious denomination of that particular faith, in the event of a violation of fundamental rights, only to the extent of threat to life and liberty, may be permitted to seek protection of the court and determine the issue of faith arising therefrom,” the submission says further.

The AIMPLB also stated that the apex court had already dealt with the practices of Nikah Halala and polygamy in its 1997 verdict where it had declined to entertain petitions.

The practice of polygamy allows a Muslim man to marry multiple women. Nikah-Halala is a practice of a divorced woman having to consummate the marriage with another man and then getting a divorce from him before remarrying her previous husband. In numerous instances, it has been seen that the woman is forced to have sex with multiple men by the husband after giving her the Triple Talaq. Despite their inhuman, exploitative nature, the practices continue to receive support from the AIMPLB.

The AIMPLB had also vehemently opposed to the criminalisation of the practice of Triple Talaq.