Supreme Court to Decide on Maintenance Rights of Divorced Muslim Women under Section 125 CrPC

The Supreme Court of India recently reserved its judgment on a significant legal question: whether a divorced Muslim woman is entitled to seek maintenance from her former husband under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). This section is a secular provision designed to prevent destitution and vagrancy among wives, children, and parents, irrespective of their religion. The case brings back into focus the long-standing debate between personal laws and secular statutes. Historically, the landmark Shah Bano judgment (1985) affirmed that Section 125 CrPC applies to all women regardless of religion. However, the subsequent enactment of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, sought to specify the rights of divorced Muslim women, leading to legal ambiguity about whether they could still invoke the general CrPC provision. While the Danial Latifi case (2001) upheld the 1986 Act by interpreting it to ensure maintenance for the woman's lifetime, the question of the parallel applicability of Section 125 has persisted.