Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court has held that Talaq-e-Hasan is a valid form of divorce and is not prohibited in India, while directing a Barpeta man to approach the jurisdictional marriage and divorce registrar for registration of the divorce he claimed to have pronounced on his wife.Justice Arun Dev Choudhury, while disposing of a writ petition filed by Rakibul Bhuyan on Tuesday, said his divorce could not be registered by the Sadar Quazi and Registrar of Muslim Marriage and Divorce, Barpeta, as the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935, had been repealed and the post of registrar created under the law had been abolished.The court directed Bhuyan to approach the jurisdictional marriage and divorce registrar under the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorces Act, 2024, which replaced the 1935 law and shifted the registration authority from qazis to government-appointed marriage and divorce registrars.“However, noticing that the Talaq-E-Hassan as pronounced by the petitioner herein is a valid form of Talaq and not prohibited as on date in the country, this court hereby requires the petitioner to approach the jurisdictional marriage & divorce registrar, under the provisions of the Act of 2024, for registration of the divorce,” the court stated.It left it to the jurisdictional registrar to examine Bhuyan’s application and decide it in accordance with the new law.Bhuyan had moved the high court after his application for registration of the divorce was not acted upon by the Barpeta sub-registrar-cum-marriage and divorce registrar.The high court said the registrar would have to examine whether the divorce was pronounced by the person and verify the identity of the person appearing before him before deciding whether the divorce would mandate registration.If the requirements of Section 12 of the 2024 Act are fulfilled, the registrar must make an entry of the divorce in the divorce register, the court said.If the registrar refuses to register the divorce, Bhuyan would be at liberty to challenge the decision under Section 17 of the 2024 Act, it added.The court referred to the Supreme Court’s 2017 judgment in Shayara Bano v Union of India while explaining Talaq-e-Hasan, under which the husband makes three separate pronouncements, generally with an interval between them.In Bhuyan’s case, the three pronouncements were made on March 22, April 26 and May 27. “Normally, with the pronouncement of the 3rd Talaq, as per the requisites of Talaq-E-Hassan, the marriage between the petitioner and the respondent no. 5 stood dissolved,” the order said.The court, however, said Bhuyan’s wife would be free to challenge the Talaq-e-Hasan before an appropriate forum in accordance with law.
