Anushka Sharma-
Published On: November 18, 2021 at 13:35 IST
According to the Kerala High Court, a Family Court is considering a petition for endorsing out-of-Court Divorce, unilateral or mutual, under Muslim Personal Law just needs to hold a cursory hearing and does not need to undertake a full Investigation.
A Division Bench of Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice Kauser Edappagath made a ruling that would expedite the process of obtaining Divorce and having it endorsed in a public record through a Court. The Court heard Asbi KN’s Appeal, which was submitted through Counsel C Dilip.
In the judgment, authored by Justice Kauser, the High Court said, “The endorsement of extrajudicial divorce and consequential declaration of the status of the parties by the Family Court invoking S.7(d) of the Act is contemplated only to have a public record of the extrajudicial divorce. Hence, a detailed enquiry is neither essential nor desirable in a proceeding initiated by either of the parties to endorse an extrajudicial divorce and to declare the marital status. The Family Court has to simply ascertain whether a valid pronouncement/declaration of talaq or khula was made and it was preceded by effective attempt of conciliation.”
The Court stated that no further Inquiry, such as chief examination and cross examination of the parties, is contemplated when endorsing Extrajudicial Divorce under Muslim Personal Law, and that the Family Court should endorse the plea if it is Prima Facie satisfied that a valid pronouncement of ‘Talaq’, ‘Khula’, or ‘Mubaarat’ was made.
The Court also released a seven-point guideline for dealing with such matters in Family Courts. The decision was handed down on October 12, but a copy was only made accessible on Wednesday.