Shayara Bano v. Union of India (2017)

Constitutional Law I · Right to Equality — Article 14

Facts.

Shayara Bano was divorced by her husband through instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) — three pronouncements in one sitting. She challenged the practice as violating her Fundamental Rights.

Issue.

Is instant triple talaq protected as an essential religious practice, or is it void for being arbitrary and unequal under Article 14?

Held.

By a 3:2 majority the Supreme Court struck down instant triple talaq. The plurality held it was not an essential practice of Islam and that a law or practice which is manifestly arbitrary — capricious, irrational and without an adequate determining principle — violates Article 14.

Why it matters.

It firmly established manifest arbitrariness as a ground to invalidate not just executive action but even legislation and personal-law practices, extending the Royappa–Maneka arbitrariness doctrine to its modern frontier.

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