Can ex-Muslims come under Succession Act, top court asks Centre
Can a person born as a Muslim be governed by the Indian Succession Act — a secular law, instead of Shariat, if he/she quits Islam?
A day after the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) came into effect in Uttarakhand, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to spell out its stand on the contentious issue raised in a petition filed by Safiya PM, a resident of Alappuzha in Kerala.
“The petitioner woman is a born Muslim. She says she does not believe in Shariat and she thinks it is a regressive law,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a Bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan, noting that the petition raised an interesting question.
“This will run across faiths. You will have to file a counter affidavit,” the Bench told Mehta who sought three weeks to take instructions and file the Centre’s response.
Granting four weeks to the Centre to spell out its stand, the Bench posted the matter for hearing in the week commencing May 5.
Petitioner Safiya PM, general secretary of the Ex-Muslims of Kerala, contended that being a non-believer Muslim woman, she wanted to be governed by the secular Indian succession law to deal with her ancestral property rights, instead of Shariat.
The Supreme Court had on April 29, 2024, asked the Centre and the Kerala Government to respond to her petition. It had also asked Attorney General R Venkataramani to appoint a law officer to assist it.
“We cannot give a declaration on personal laws like this to parties. You can challenge the Sharia law provision and we will deal with it then. How can we direct that a non-believer be governed by the Indian Succession Act?” a Bench led by the then CJI, DY Chandrachud, had told the petitioner’s counsel.
