Gauhati High Court upholds talaq-e-hassan, orders registration under 2024 Act

The Gauhati High Court has upheld the validity of talaq-e-hassan, a form of Muslim divorce in which a husband pronounces the word "talaq" once in each of three consecutive months.

Issuing the order on September 8, Justice Arun Dev Choudhury directed the petitioner, Rakibul Bhuyan of Gelabil village in Barpeta district, to approach the jurisdictional marriage and divorce registrar under the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriages and Divorce Act, 2024, to have the divorce registered.

The court said that once such an application is made, the registrar must examine whether the divorce was in fact effected by the petitioner, who claims to have pronounced it, and identify him as the person who did so before deciding whether registration is warranted.

The judge added that if registration is refused, the petitioner may appeal under Section 17 of the 2024 Act.

According to the petitioner, his wife left him in 2018, two years after their marriage. After efforts at reconciliation failed, he pronounced talaq-e-hassan on March 22, April 26 and May 27, 2026. He said the marriage stood dissolved with the third pronouncement.

On June 2, he applied to the sub-registrar-cum-marriage and divorce registrar in Barpeta under Section 12 of the 2024 Act, but the application was not accepted. The State government submitted in court that the 1935 law governing Muslim marriages and divorces had been repealed, and that the authority appointed under it could no longer register the divorce.

The petitioner contended that the registrar could not have refused registration under the 2024 Act, since talaq-e-hassan is not prohibited in India.

Disposing of the petition, the court noted that the petitioner's wife, who did not appear despite notices being served, remains free to challenge the talaq-e-hassan before an appropriate forum.