Latif said that she had herself suffered from a bad marriage but, at the same time, benefited from the operation of Islamic Law which permits divorce without recourse to the formal judicial process.
The application argued that Reshma’s petition is not about empowering women, but seeks to disempower men and that it failed to “appreciate that so called power of men is already severely controlled and constrained – which forms law of the land”.
“It is stated that there is equality between the sexes, and the manner in which the right to end the relationship operates works differently. Thus, the unqualified right of man in Islamic law is called Talaq Sunnat/Ahsan, and the unqualified right of the wife is called the right to seek “Khula”. The right of the wife to seek khula is unconditional and the husband cannot refuse to divorce if the wife asserts her right/khula. Thus, there is complete parity in the power to divorce and the difference lies only in the way of operation. Additionally, subject to contract, the husband can delegate the direct right to divorce which is recognized as talaq-e-tafweez or talaq by delegation.”
Source: Barandbench
