New Delhi, India - The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed a public suit challenging the legality of Muslim personal laws relating to marriage.
A bench of judges Ruma Pal and Markandey Katju rejected the plea of the petitioner, advocate Lily Thomas, seeking a direction to the central government to lay down uniform marriage laws for all communities including Muslims.
"Go to parliament. It is for parliament to change or amend the law and judges must exercise judicial restraint," the bench advised Thomas.
The petitioner maintained that customs like polygamy and divorce through triple talaq were irrational anachronisms that denied Muslim women their fundamental rights and ought to have been wiped out long ago as "indecent practices".
Thomas maintained that personal laws for different communities on the basis of religion went against the principles of secularism and national integration.