SC agrees to record in February plea in opposition to jury system for Parsi matrimonial disputes
4 min readBy ANI
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to record a plea difficult a number of provisions of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936, which supplies for a system of jury comprising neighborhood members to determine matrimonial disputes.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli mentioned it will hear the matter in February 2023 after an advocate talked about it for itemizing.
The apex court docket had issued discover on the plea filed by a Parsi lady in December 2017.
The petition filed by Naomi Sam Irani acknowledged that the provisions of the Act violated Article 14 (proper to equality) and Article 21 (proper to life and liberty) of the Constitution whereas citing a prime court docket verdict declaring the observe of immediate triple talaq utilized by Muslim males unconstitutional and violative of Muslim girls’s proper to reside with dignity.
Questioning the validity of provisions of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act (PMDA), Irani had mentioned the process underneath the 1936 private regulation is exasperatingly cumbersome, involving a system akin to a jury resolution, and grants no entry to mediation and settlement as obtainable to Hindu girls underneath the household court docket system.
The petition had challenged the Constitutionality of sections 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 30, 32(a), 46, 47(b) and 50 of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936.
Section 18 of the Act supplies for the structure of Special Courts at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, titled ‘Parsi Chief Matrimonial Courts’. Section 19 supplies for the composition, as per which the Chief Justice of the High Court shall appoint the choose of such Parsi Matrimonial court docket. The choose of the matrimonial court docket shall be aided by 5 delegates.
The petition acknowledged that the 5 delegates are, for all sensible functions, a jury, because the delegates’ verdict on info is remaining and no attraction lies in opposition to the identical.
The plea termed the supply as “archaic” and mentioned it pre-dated independence and abolition of the jury system “in our criminal jurisprudence in the 1960s” and can’t be retained for one neighborhood alone.
She had set out the drawbacks of the jury system, which had resulted in its abolition in India.
“The jury delegates adjudicate a divorce petition based on their personal notion of societal norms, morality and ethics, which may not be in sync with the principles of natural justice and the ethos and dynamics of society,” the petition acknowledged.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to record a plea difficult a number of provisions of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936, which supplies for a system of jury comprising neighborhood members to determine matrimonial disputes.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli mentioned it will hear the matter in February 2023 after an advocate talked about it for itemizing.
The apex court docket had issued discover on the plea filed by a Parsi lady in December 2017.
The petition filed by Naomi Sam Irani acknowledged that the provisions of the Act violated Article 14 (proper to equality) and Article 21 (proper to life and liberty) of the Constitution whereas citing a prime court docket verdict declaring the observe of immediate triple talaq utilized by Muslim males unconstitutional and violative of Muslim girls’s proper to reside with dignity.
Questioning the validity of provisions of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act (PMDA), Irani had mentioned the process underneath the 1936 private regulation is exasperatingly cumbersome, involving a system akin to a jury resolution, and grants no entry to mediation and settlement as obtainable to Hindu girls underneath the household court docket system.
The petition had challenged the Constitutionality of sections 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 30, 32(a), 46, 47(b) and 50 of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936.
Section 18 of the Act supplies for the structure of Special Courts at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, titled ‘Parsi Chief Matrimonial Courts’. Section 19 supplies for the composition, as per which the Chief Justice of the High Court shall appoint the choose of such Parsi Matrimonial court docket. The choose of the matrimonial court docket shall be aided by 5 delegates.
The petition acknowledged that the 5 delegates are, for all sensible functions, a jury, because the delegates’ verdict on info is remaining and no attraction lies in opposition to the identical.
The plea termed the supply as “archaic” and mentioned it pre-dated independence and abolition of the jury system “in our criminal jurisprudence in the 1960s” and can’t be retained for one neighborhood alone.
She had set out the drawbacks of the jury system, which had resulted in its abolition in India.
“The jury delegates adjudicate a divorce petition based on their personal notion of societal norms, morality and ethics, which may not be in sync with the principles of natural justice and the ethos and dynamics of society,” the petition acknowledged.
