13, Feb 2016

Feb 13 2016 : The Times of India (Mumbai)
Eram Agha
Aligarh:Decades after the Shah Bano case stirred a nationwide debate on sharia law in the context of Muslim women’s rights, a 47-year-old woman was orally divorced through “triple talaq“ by none other than a sitting judge of a district court here.

An angry Afsha Khan has shot off letters to the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of the Allahabad high court after Aligarh’s additional district Judge, 59-year-old Mohd Zaheeruddin Siddiqui, pronounced the `talaq’ in a fit of anger. Afsha has said in her plea that injustice has been done by a person “who is entrusted with the responsibility to procure justice for all“.

Alleging that she was also tortured by the judge and his family members, Afsha has sought that they should be put behind bars to give “a right message“ to society . When TOI contacted Siddiqui about his “oral talaq“ and allegations levelled against him, he said, “We could not reach a compromise, so according to sharia I gave her divorce.“