Supreme Court Makes Stay On Uttarakhand HC Order Banning Fatwas Absolute

The Supreme Court, on Monday, made absolute the interim stay on the order of the Uttarakhand High Court banning religious outfits/bodies and statutory panchayats/local panchayats/group of people in the state from issuing 'fatwas' or similar diktats.

The order was passed by a Bench comprising Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice Bela M. Trivedi in a Special Leave Petition filed by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind. In 2018, the Apex Court stayed the operation of the order of the High Court. While passing the order, the High Court had observed -

“Fatwa is nothing but extra-constitutional adventurism… This “fatwa” is against the letter and spirit of the Constitution. The panchayat, instead of sympathising with the rape victim, had the audacity to extern the family from the village”

The petition before the Apex Court relied on the judgment of the Apex Court in Vishwa Lochan Madan v. Union Of India & Ors. to argue that a blanket ban on fatwas was unsustainable.

The petition further points out that the High Court relies on a news report, which used the word “farman” and not “fatwa”. Besides, it asserts that Darul Ifta (fatwa council) or Mufti is authorized to issue fatwas, submitting,

“…the only authorized and well qualified person is competent to issue fatwa. i.e. Darul Ifta (fatwa council) or Muftis are jurists qualified to give authoritative opinions as per Shariat law known as fatwas. Jurist capable of giving, upon request, an authoritative although nonbinding opinion (fatwa) on a point of Islamic law. These opinions are generally based on precedent and compiled in legal reference manuals. A candidate is conferred degree of Mufti after he successfully completed the comprehensive course in Islamic Jurisprudence which takes 8 to 10 years in completing the same.”

It further argues that the order of the High Court will perpetuate “irreparable loss” on the community as Muftis will not be able to issue fatwas in cases where such fatwas are urgently required.

[Case Title: Jamiat Ulama E Hind v. State of Uttarakhand SLP(C) No. 28228/2018]