AIMPLB files application in SC against PIL seeking ban on polygamy, nikah halala

All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Monday filed an Intervention Application (IA) in the Supreme Court opposing the public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on polygamy, nikah halala, nikah misyar and Sharia Court.

The PIL was moved in the apex court by lawyer and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay in the year 2018.

Speaking to reporters, advocate Upadhyay said, "AIMPLB, which works against the interests of women, has filed an application challenging the PIL today. It clearly reflects that the personal law board wants polygamy, nikah halala, nikah mutah, nikah misyar and Sharia Court to continue in the country."

He also said that AIMPLB had also opposed the Triple Talaq Act.

"A three-judge bench had heard the matter and referred it to a five-judge constitution bench," Upadhyay added.

On December 2 last year, the PIL was mentioned for an urgent hearing before a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde. However, the top court had denied an urgent hearing on the matter and slated it to be heard after the winter vacation.

While polygamy allows a Muslim man to have more than one wife, 'Nikah Halala' is a practice in which a woman, after being divorced by Triple Talaq, marries another man and gets divorced again in order to be able to remarry her former husband.

Last year, the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act was enacted, which criminalises instant talaq and provides for a jail term of three years for the husband.