Alimony for Muslim women: BJP hails SC verdict, reminds how Rajiv Gandhi govt overturned apex court's ruling in Shah Bano case

The Supreme Court verdict declared that a divorced Muslim woman was entitled to seek maintenance from her husband.

The BJP hailed the Supreme Court verdict which declared that a divorced Muslim woman was entitled to seek maintenance from her husband under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). However, while praising the ruling, the BJP was quick to remind how the Congress had earlier reversed a similar top court verdict in the Shah Bano case.

Addressing a press conference at the BJP’s national headquarters in New Delhi, party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the verdict had “ended” a threat to the Constitution by the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, passed by a Congress government in the past.

“Whenever the Congress has been in power, the Constitution was under threat. It was under the Rajiv Gandhi government that a decision was taken which gave primacy to Sharia over the Constitution. The prestige of the Constitution which was crushed during the Congress government has been restored by this order. The verdict has ended one of the big threats posed to the Constitution,” said Trivedi.

In the Shah Bano case, the Supreme Court in 1985 had allowed her plea for alimony from her husband after she was divorced. However, the then Congress government passed a law in Parliament to overrule the verdict following protests from certain conservative Muslim groups.

According to Trivedi, the SC verdict has provided a big relief to Muslim women. He also urged this ruling to be seen beyond a matter of religion as it is an issue of equal rights.

Trivedi claimed that there are no secular states where Sharia provisions such as halala and triple talaq exist anymore.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi welcomed the SC order but cautioned that those “mischievously and deliberately” reading politics into the judgment were unnecessarily playing games.

“The obligation to support married women applies irrespective of religion and is a gender specific case by the Supreme Court and should not be made to acquire political hues and colours as some quarters are trying to do,” said Singhvi.

Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba also said the verdict would provide justice to women in need, irrespective of their religion. "The judgment has seen women as women, and not their religion. I have spoken to many women from the Muslim community and they are very happy," she told Times of India.