SC on Fatwas

The Supreme Court has ruled that fatwas issued by Shariat courts or muftis had no legal sanctity, asserting that their defiance will have no civil or criminal consequences.
The SC said it would be illegal to impose religion-based opinions on personal issues on citizens in violation of their fundamental rights. “Whatever may have been the status of fatwa during the Mughal or British rule, it has no place in independent India under our constitutional scheme,“ a bench of Justices Chandramauli K Prasad and Pinaki C Ghose said. “Any bid to enforce a fatwa by any method shall be illegal and has to be dealt with in accordance with law.“
There have been bizarre fatwas covering almost the entire spectrum of social life of the Muslim community--from banning a popular all-girls Kashmiri band, leading to its disbanding, to directing Muzaffarnagar woman Imrana to treat her husband as her son after she was raped by her father-in-law. The Supreme Court has ruled that fatwas have no legal standing. It was the mushrooming of fatwas, ranging from dissolution of marriage to dress code for women, which led advocate Vishwa Lochan Madan to file a PIL questioning the jurisdiction of Shariat courts, Dar-ul-Qaza (personal law courts) and Deoband muftis in dictating social behaviour of citizens and, in the process, virtually setting up a parallel judicial system on issues relating to Muslim personal law.
The court said fatwas could cause “immense devastation” and advised Dar-ul-Qazas and muftis not to issue them unless asked for by the person involved or the person having direct interest in the matter.
“A fatwa has no legal sanction and cannot be enforced by any legal process either by the Dar-ul-Qaza issuing it or the person concerned or for that matter anybody. The person or the body concerned may ignore it and it will not be necessary for anybody to challenge it before any court of law,“ said Justice C K Prasad. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board had told the apex court, “The establishment of a network of judicial system throughout the country to help Muslims get their disputes settled by qazis may not have police powers but shall have the book of Allah in hand and Sunnat of the Rasool, and all decisions should be according to the book and the Sunnat.This will bring Muslims to Muslim courts. They will get justice.“
But the bench was not amused. It said, “The object of establishment of such a court may be laudable, but we have no doubt in our mind that it has no legal status. It is bereft of any legal pedigree and has no sanction in laws of the land.“
Though the court said the existence of the Dar-ul-Qaza and issuance of fatwas were not per se illegal, it clarified that “it is not a decree, not binding on the court or the state or the individual. It is not sanctioned under our constitutional scheme“. It discussed the adverse impact of fatwas on people for whom religion was a matter of unflinching faith in the almighty .“As fat was get strength from the religion, it causes serious psychological impact on the person intending not to abide by that,“ the bench said.
The court cited the stand of the Deoband Dar-ul-Uloom to emphasize the deep psychological impact of fatwas.
The Deoband Dar-ul-Uloom had said, “Persons who are god-fearing and believe that they are answerable to the almighty and have to face the consequence of their doings/deeds. Such are the persons who submit to fatwa.“
In this context, the court recounted the harrowing tale of Imrana of Muzaffarnagar. “Though neither the wife nor the husband had approached for any opinion, an opinion was sought for and given at the instance of a journalist, a total stranger. In this way, the victim has been punished. A country governed by law cannot fathom it. In our opinion, one may not object to the issuance of fatwa on a religious issue or any other issue so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of individuals guaranteed under law,“ it said.

The country’s most important Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom Deoband, on Monday reacted with watchfulness to the Supreme Court’s ruling that Shariat courts and fatwas have no legal status or validity, saying Deoband neither welcomes nor rejects the verdict.

All India Muslim Personal Law Board, however, welcomed the SC ruling saying the board has always maintained Shariat courts are not parallel judiciary .