Court caseAIR 1985 SC 945

Shah Bano, a 62-year-old woman from Indore, was driven out of the matrimonial home after 43 years of marriage and claimed maintenance from her husband, an advocate, under section 125 CrPC. He then pronounced irrevocable talaq and argued that under Muslim personal law his obligation ended with the iddat period and that he had paid the mahr, which under section 127(3)(b) discharged him. The Magistrate awarded a small sum, the High Court enhanced it, and the husband appealed to the Supreme Court.

Chandrachud CJ, for a unanimous Bench, held that section 125 applies to all persons irrespective of religion and that there is no conflict between it and Muslim personal law: the Quranic verses themselves (interpreted by the Court) oblige a husband to make provision for a divorced wife who cannot maintain herself. Mahr is an amount payable in consideration of marriage, not a sum payable "on divorce", so section 127(3)(b) did not help the husband. The appeal was dismissed. The Court regretted that Article 44 had remained a dead letter and observed that a common civil code would help national integration by removing disparate loyalties to laws with conflicting ideologies.