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COLUMN

Darul Qazas aren’t courts

but counselling centres

THE LAST he All-India Muslim Personal saying they are unjust to women. In its
Law Board (AIMPLB) recently
2014 verdict, the Supreme Court however
WORD announced that it is going to set had refrained from doing so. Interestingly,
up Darul Qazas (Muslim courts)
a recent study titled, “Women’s Access to
ABDUL WASEY T in every district of the country. Justice in Darul Qaza” by Nalsar Law Uni-
This created an uproar, with many alleg- versity, Hyderabad, stated that more than
ing that it is an attempt to set up a parallel 90 per cent complainants who approach
judicial system. A closer look into its history, Darul Qazas are women. Another study
mechanism and way of functioning will by sociologists Anindita Chakrabarty and
help in getting a clear picture. Suchandra Ghosh suggested that none of
The system of Darul Qaza, which has the interviewed women had stated that the
been in existence since the advent of procedures or verdicts of Darul Qazas were
Islam, was introduced in India by Mughals gender unjust.
and was used to resolve issues and disputes Reports suggest that Darul Qazas run-
involving Muslims until 1864. When British- ning in Bihar alone have so far resolved
ers came to power, they stopped appointing nearly 50,000 family disputes, and in very
Qazis (equivalent to judges) to these judicial few cases people knocked the doors of the
institutions. In 1921, a renowned Islamic regular courts as these institutions ami-
scholar Maulana Abul Mohsin Sajjad tried cably resolved their issues or solved their
to revive the practice at personal level in problems. Besides, the cases in Darul Qazas
Bihar. In its present form in India, Darul are resolved quickly—usually in less than
Qaza is more like a counselling centre to a year.
resolve small disputes as it does not have These Darul Qazas, which generally
any power or authority to punish the resolve issues within three months, work
culprits. Only civil issues like marital and more like Lok Adalats and counselling cen-
family disputes, issues related to property, tres that aim to reduce the burden on the
divorce etc. are brought before it. courts. The country needs more such insti-
In recent past, a case of a property dis- tutions as, according to Chief Justice Dipak
pute came to Imarat-e-Sharia Phulwari Misra, the courts are facing the backlog of
Shareef Patna. The complainant, a Hindu, around 3.3 crore cases. While 2.84 crore
alleged that a Muslim had grabbed his prop- cases are pending in the subordinate courts,
erty. The case was already decided in favour the backlog clogging the High Courts and
of the Muslim accused by the Supreme Supreme Court (SC) is 43 lakh and 57,987
Court. Both parties were called. While hear- cases, respectively. According to National
ing the case, the Qazi reminded them about Judicial Data Grid (NJDG), the five states
the life after death, judgement day, heaven which account for the highest pendency
and hell, etc, adding that the culprit may are Uttar Pradesh (61.58 lakh), Maharashtra
escape laws of this world but will surely be (33.22 lakh), West Bengal (17.59 lakh), Bihar
punished in the hereafter. The Muslim sus- (16.58 lakh) and Gujarat (16.45 lakh).
pect, after some time, broke down and not More Darul Qaza like institutions should
only admitted his crime but also revealed be allowed to come up to resolve petty
how he forged the will of the plaintiff’s issues. This will give more time to courts
father. He apologised to the complainant to ponder on cases involving Indian Penal
and the matter was resolved amicably. Code and other important litigations relat-
In 2005, a Delhi-based lawyer Vishwa ed to general masses.
Lochan Madan filed a public interest liti-
gation with a plea to ban all Sharia courts, LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

TEHELKA / 30 SEPTEMBER 2018 66 WWW.TEHELKA.COM

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