SC Nods Formation Of Constitution Bench To Consider Pleas Against Polygamy

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Thursday decided to establish a constitution bench to consider a number of pleas contesting the constitutionality of Muslim polygamy and “nikah-halala.”

One of the petitioners, advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, brought up the issue before a bench on Thursday that included justices Hima Kohli and J.B. Pardiwala and was presided over by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud. The bench announced that it will constitute a new bench.

Notably, nine petitions were submitted before the apex court contesting the constitutionality of polygamy and “nikah-halala.”

Polygamy allows a Muslim man to have four wives, and once a Muslim woman has been divorced, her husband is not allowed to take her back even if he had declared talaq while intoxicated unless his wife undergoes nikah-halala, which entails her marriage to another man who then divorces her so that her previous husband can remarry her.

Muslim women and the advocate Ashwini Upadhyay have filed petitions contesting the constitutionality of polygamy and nikah halala. In March 2018, a three-judge panel forwarded these cases to the five-judge bench.

Upadhyay’s plea argues that Polygamy stands in violation of Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution and is injurious to public order, morality and health.