NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 26, 2014 (Times Of India): In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court on Tuesday assured it would come to the rescue of any citizen who felt harassed by a fatwa issued by a Muslim cleric and said such fatwas had no sanction in law.
A bench of Justices C.K. Prasad and P.C. Ghose made it clear that the judiciary could redress a fatwa while hearing final arguments on a PIL by Vishwa Lochan Madan, drawing the court’s attention to parallel Shariat courts that were mushrooming in India. Madan sought a declaration that such fatwas were illegal.
The bench said fatwas and dictates by muftis had no sanction in law. “Anything not sanctioned by the law need not be taken cognizance by anyone. The muftis can take up any issue and dictate a fatwa. But this will be akin to any common man’s view on an issue,” it said.
“If someone voluntarily follows the fatwas or directions of the religious figures, it is purely up to them. But can these dictates, fatwa or religious head’s directions, be enforced in a court of law? If someone is punished for not obeying the fatwa, then the judiciary is there to set right that wrong,” the bench said.