New Delhi, Oct. 28: Kerala High Court has asked the Centre to deliberate upon legislation to control and supervise Muslim marriages and divorces — a suggestion hailed as “historic” by women activists.

A division bench has asked the Union law ministry to think about setting up regulatory bodies at the central and regional levels to protect Muslim society and women from “indiscreet marriage and divorce”.

However, in the run-up to elections, it is unlikely that the government will risk stirring a controversy.

The bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Harun-ul Rashid delivered the judgment on a petition by Sayed Ali, who had appealed a family court ruling that allowed his wife’s plea for divorce after he married another woman. Ali had contended that a second marriage was not a sufficient reason to grant divorce according to Islamic laws.

The high court asked the family court to reconsider its decision since a second marriage is permissible under Muslim personal laws.

However, the high court also said the Quran had allowed four marriages in a different historical context. That permission was given at a time there were several orphans, widows and prisoners of war who were unable to live with dignity.

Polygamy was allowed then because of unavoidable circumstances. In fact, the Quran itself has discouraged this practice by imposing stringent conditions, the court pointed out.

According to the court, even after the 15th century, some people followed the practice, unmindful of whether such circumstances existed or not. They entered into more than one marriage, mostly for personal pleasure.

The high court said there was no system in the country even in the 21st century to ascertain and decide whether a person was eligible to contract more than one marriage during the existence of the first marriage. Men in the community enjoyed unrestricted freedom to marry women of their choice and pronounce talaaq according to their whims and fancies, the court said.

The bench has also appealed to all concerned within the community, the administrative authority and the government to study the problems faced by “helpless and destitute women and children” and find out ways to alleviate their problems.

While women’s groups have welcomed the judgment, religious leaders have opposed it.

V.P. Suhra, the president of Nisa, a Muslim women’s organisation, described the court’s ruling as “historic”. According to her, the conservative elements in the community had always been wrongly interpreting the Quran to promote their vested interests.

“The high court observations are judicious and the government must use this as an opportunity to intervene. But I doubt whether any political party has the guts to take up the cause of Muslim women as they are scared to upset the orthodox leaders,” she said.

However, according to religious leaders, if the government sets up committees to monitor Islamic marriages, it will amount to questioning the Shariat.

“We will not accept any kind of intervention in religious matters. These things should be done within the community itself,” said Aboobacker Musaliar, a leader of the All India Jam-Iyyathul Ulama, a prominent Sunni organisation.

According to him, there are clear provisions in Islam to protect the interests of women. “If people are misusing the provisions for polygamy and divorce in Islam, the solution is to enlighten them on religious injunctions. Supervision by outside committees will not do any good.”