A Special Leave Petition has been submitted to the Supreme Court arguing that Sharia law’s division of family property is discriminatory to Muslim women because it does not grant a female the same share as a male.
“In spite of guarantee of the Constitution, Muslim women are subjected to discrimination,” the plea filed by Bushara Ali states. She is a decree holder in a partition suit whereby she was only allotted ½ the shares as of her male counterparts.
In the ancestral property, the petitioner Bushara Ali received 7/152 shares while her male counterparts received 14/152 shares.
She argued that Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937 violated Article 15 of the Constitution and should be repealed.
The argument made in the petition by Attorney Bijo Mathew Joy adds that the Act is a pre-constitutional law and thus directly violates Article 13(1) of the Indian Constitution.
The argument poses a legal query: Does Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, which denies women an equal share of the property to men, violate Article 15 of the Constitution and, as a result, be declared invalid in accordance with Article 13 of the Constitution?
Source: Live Law
