HC questions words used in divorce notices
The High Court yesterday questioned the use of certain offensive words in a Talaq (divorce) notice.
It issued a rule asking respondents to show causes in four weeks as to why the customary practice, followed by the Nikah registrar, and the use of such words in the existing and customised Talaq notice should not be declared illegal.
Secretary at the law and justice division of the law ministry and inspector general of registration have been made respondents to the rule.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman issued the rule following a writ petition filed by a woman challenging the legality of the use of offensive words in a divorce notice she received from her husband in 2017.
The petitioner's lawyer Abdullah Al Noman told The Daily Star that his client, who is an academician working in the Odette School of Business, University of Windsor of Ontario, Canada, received a divorce notice from her husband containing irrational, derogatory, and objectionable terms in 2017.
In the divorce notice, the husband used the column in the format of a Talaq notice, in which words like "wife's being disobedient to husband" and "completely contradictory to Sharia" had been used.
The use of such words is illegal and unconstitutional, as article 11 of the constitution specifically states that the republic shall be a democracy in which fundamental human rights and freedoms and respect for the dignity and worth of a person shall be guaranteed, Abdullah said.
Citing the petition, he added that due to the use of such abusive words and phrases, women are humiliated and often face severe discriminations, and as such, the practice followed by the Nikah Registrar is liable to be set aside for securing the ends of justice.
Deputy Attorney General Bipul Bagmar represented the state during a virtual hearing on the writ petition.
Comments