Triple Talaq By E-mail Is Mental Torture; Husband's Unilateral Power To Inflict Instant Divorce Is Unacceptable: Patna High Court
Sparsh Upadhyay
11 Dec 2024 2:57 PM IST
The Patna High Court has recently observed that the view that a Muslim husband enjoys an arbitrary and unilateral power of inflicting instant divorce is not acceptable and that giving divorce to a Muslim wife by simply sending an e-mail to her amounts to a form of mental torture.
Rejecting a plea to quash dowry and mental torture charges against a husband, a bench of Justice Shailendra Singh also observed that the operation of the Supreme Court's 2017 decision on triple talaq would apply retrospectively and hence, it would equally apply to the triple talaq pronounced before passing of the said judgement.
The Court was essentially dealing with the husband's plea (Aamir Karim) to quash the charges against him under Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3/4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
He argued that he had divorced his wife (opposite party no. 2) on February 26, 2014, by sending her an email and an SMS, both containing the three talaq pronouncements. He further claimed that his wife had accepted the divorce, and therefore, her complaint filed afterwards was made with mala fide intentions.
On the other hand, it was the case of the wife (opposite party no. 2) that at the time of marriage ten lakh rupees in cash, ornaments and clothes were given to the petitioner, but after the marriage, the conduct of the petitioner and his family members suddenly changed and her mother-in-law kept her ornaments and cash amount.
Further, when she enquired from her about the employment of her husband then, the petitioner and his mother threatened to kill her and also became enraged. in November 2013, she was left at her maternal home, and after that, on February 26, 2014, the petitioner-husband sent her an e-mail giving her triple talaq.
At the outset, the Court noted that while the complainant had acknowledged receiving the email (containing triple talaq communication), this alone did not absolve the petitioner from charges of cruelty and dowry harassment and the allegations of mental torture, including dowry demands and ill-treatment, was to be considered separately.
The Court further noted that even though the Supreme Court's ruling, declaring triple talaq void, came in 2017, the verdict would apply retrospectively, meaning it also invalidates talaq pronouncements made before the judgment, as is the case with the instant matter.
The Court also factored in that after the marriage, this petitioner and his family members mentally tortured the complainant, and she was also neglected, and all these things happened within six months of the marriage.
The Court considered that she was given triple talaq by simply sending an e-mail and this also amounts to a form of mental torture.
“…as the correct law of talak is that the talak must be for reasonable cause and the same must be preceded by attempts for conciliation between the husband and the wife by two arbitrators, one from the wife's family and other from the husband and if such attempts fail then talak may be affected but the view that a Muslim husband enjoys an arbitrary and unilateral power of inflicting instant divorce is not acceptable,” the Court further remarked as it dismissed husband's plea.
Case title - Aamir Karim vs State Of Bihar and another
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