New Delhi: India’s Supreme Court has declared that no legal status has been granted to the Shariat Courts and hence religious decrees or fatwas against an individual are illegal. The landmark judgment on Monday saw further objections to the Shariat Courts and them ordering punishments against innocent people.
The verdict by the apex court was given after a petition challenging the legality of the Shariat Courts was filed by a Delhi based lawyer Vishwa Lochan Madan in 2005.
In the petition, he stated that institutions like ‘Darul Qaza’ and ‘Darul-iftaa’ are operating like parallel courts which take decisions on the fundamental rights of the Muslim citizens. He argued that these groups operated in Muslim dominated districts where people could not oppose the rulings.
In February this year, the SC had declined to interfere with the Sharia Law saying that they cannot intervene in the religious beliefs of any community.
But this Monday, A bench headed by justice CK Prasad said that no religion, including Islam, allows punishing the innocent and ordered that no ‘Darul Qaza’ should give verdict which affects rights of a person who is not before it.
“Sharia courts are not sanctioned by law and there is no legality of fatwas in this country,” said Prasad as he read out the judgement from a two-judge bench. The apex court said that Islamic judges, who interpret religious law, could only rule when individuals submitted voluntarily to them and their decisions, or fatwas, were not legally binding.