A Muslim woman from Kerala has filed a petition at the Kerala High Court and sought exemption from the mandatory 90-day waiting period known as ‘Iddah’ in order to remarry after she had divorced her husband under the procedure of ‘Khula’. ‘Khula’ is a term used for an extra-judicial divorce procedure in which the divorce is initiated by a woman.
BREAKING: A Muslim woman has approached Kerala HC seeking exemption from the mandatory 90-day waiting period, termed ‘Iddah’, for remarrying after divorcing her husband through “Khula” & the Court has granted a stay on the Lower Courts order which barred her from remarrying.
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) December 18, 2021
In her plea to the Kerala High Court, the woman had argued that since she had been living separately for more than two years and had no sex with her husband during this time, the period of ‘Iddah’ meant to check for pregnancy should be considered unnecessary in her case. She is willing to prove medically that she is not pregnant, the plea said.
The division bench comprising of justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Sophy Thomas has stayed a previous family court’s order issued on November 19th that stopped her from remarrying after “Khula”.
According to the petition filed by advocate TP Sajid, the woman who sought exemption from the ‘Iddah’ period was married in July 2017 and lived separately since June 2019. As per reports, it was alleged that the woman and her one-year-old son were driven out of their home by her husband after she raised her objections against the vulgar messages from another woman which were found on her husband’s phone.
Notably, even after the High Court’s landmark judgement that gave Muslim women the right to seek divorce through an extra-judicial procedure such as ‘Khula’, a family court in Ernakulam, Kerala had restrained the petitioner woman from remarrying. The family court delayed the matter till December 29 after a petition was filed by the husband against the ‘Khula’ which was initiated by the woman on October 21. The husband in his petition sought the return of his marital rights. Also, another petition that sought a divorce, return of gold ornaments, and payment of maintenance were pending in the Thalassery family court from February last year.
