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No one can run parallel court in India: SC on Shariat courts, fatwas

by IBNS 07 Jul 2014, 11:32 am

New Delhi, July 7 (IBNS) The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Shariat courts have no sanction of law and no body can run a parallel court in India even as the Muslim Personal Law Board said they are okay with the apex court ruling and whatever they do otherwise is based on the law of the land.

The Supreme Court while dealing with a petition said no body can run a parallel court in India and it is not binding on anyone to accept fatwas and the fundamental right of a person cannot be denied.

It said only victims can approach for fatwas but it is not legally binding on them.

The apex court said the fatwas by these "religious courts" have no legal sanctions and they cannot run a parallel judiciary, said a lawyer in the case.

The verdict was given by the top court on a petition filed by  Delhi-based advocate Vishwa Lochan Madan, challenging  institutions like the Darul Qaza and Darul-Iftaa.

Muslim Personal Law Board said they are not running parallel courts.

The court restrained issuing any fatwa but according to a lawyer of Islamic school Darul Uloom Deoband  the judgement in spirit streamlined the issue of fatwas. 

The case in Supreme Court had reference to the Imrana rape case of Uttar Pradesh where a 28 year-old Muslim woman was sexually assaulted by her father-in-law in 2005 in Charthawal village in the Muzaffarnagar district and subsequently the Islamic clerics there called his marriage with her husband null as the Shariat regards sexual relations with both the father and son as incestuous, sparking outcry over treating a rape as adultery.