Mumbai Charity Commissioner Deregisters Jogeshwari Sharia Court Trust
The Mumbai deputy charity commissioner has deregistered Mohakkama-E-Sharia Darul Quza Rehmaniya, a Jogeshwari-based public trust functioning as an extra-judicial sharia court. The authority acted after finding the trust involved in several illegal activities, including the annulment and dissolution of marriages, following a dispute that has also resulted in domestic violence proceedings before the Bandra magistrate court.
The deregistration followed a formal complaint submitted by Crawford Market resident Rizwana Afzal Shaikh. She reported that the trust, operated by Maulana Abdul Hassain Rahi Kazi and several associates, attempted to dissolve her marriage through talaq-e-ahsan, an Islamic divorce procedure involving a single pronouncement followed by an iddat period of three lunar months.
Shaikh married Vile Parle resident Afzal Shaikh in 2005, and the couple has two children. Shaikh stated that she was driven out of her matrimonial home in December 2020. She subsequently received a notice from the trust informing her of her husband's intent to divorce her through talaq-e-ahsan. Shaikh ignored the initial notice, but after receiving a second notice 15 days later, she replied and visited the trust's office in person.
Following the failure of mediation efforts, two separate cases were filed in the justice system. Shaikh moved the family court seeking the restitution of conjugal rights and approached the Bandra magistrate court under Section 498A, alleging cruelty and domestic violence. Shaikh maintained that she opposes the dissolution, noting that she spent nearly two decades with her husband and has two children living with him.
Advocate Farhana Shah, who represents Shaikh, noted that Shaikh considers her marriage valid and wants to return to her marital home, leaving her no option but to seek relief in formal courts. Mufti Faiyaz Alam Qasmi, an authorized Qazi who worked in Nagpada for 13 years before shifting to Malad, noted handling roughly 2,500 dissolution cases, predominantly khula sought by women due to harassment.
Activists pointed out that extra-judicial forums have proliferated since instant triple talaq was criminalized under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriages) Act, 2019. Noorjahan Safia Niaz, co-founder of the Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, stated that men frequently turn to informal sharia bodies in the absence of codified Muslim personal laws, while educationist Nasir Jamal warned that unregulated setups operated by self-appointed Qazis must not be used to infringe on women's rights.
