The Centre has assured the SC that it would look into allegations that extra-constitutional ‘shariah’ courts are operating in different states.
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday assured the Supreme Court that it would look into allegations that extra-constitutional ‘shariah’ courts operating in different states, including Maharashtra, were subverting the country’s judicial system.
Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanian said the Centre would look into information received from various states on the workings of such courts, which have hit the headlines for, among other reasons, the spate of ‘fatwas’ they have issued on a range of issues.
The government’s assurance was delivered before a Bench of Justices Ruma Pal and Dalveer Bhandari, which was ruling on a public interest litigation filed by lawyer Vishwa Mohan Madan seeking dissolution of these courts. The apex court granted the Centre four weeks to respond.
Madan had moved the court in late 2005 seeking immediate dissolution of all Islamic and shariah courts, while expressing concern over certain ‘fatwas’ issued by the Deoband-based seminary, Darul-Uloom, in the infamous Imrana rape case, as also the stand of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) in the matter.
The court had issued notices to the Centre, the AIMPLB, Darul-Uloom and states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Delhi and Maharashtra, where Islamic courts are reportedly in operation.
Madan’s petition raises some crucial issues, among them whether there could be two parallel legal systems in operation, particularly when the Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of caste or religion, and whether the right to freedom of religion could be extended to the establishment of a parallel judicial system.
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