Supreme Court says Judges can recall orders passed in open courts

To read an article on whether "Judges can recall orders passed in open courts", click on the following link:
http://epaper.indianexpress.com/c/2828670

Renouncing Islam can annul marriage: HC

Source: The Times Of India dared May 12, 2014

Renouncing Islam can annul marriage: HC

Abhinav Garg TNN 

New Delhi: Interpreting a 75-year-old law, the Delhi high court has held that a woman who had embraced Islam after marriage but reconverted to her original faith can dissolve the marriage due to apostasy, which is defined as the renunciation or abandonment of one’s religious or political beliefs. 
    Granting divorce under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939 to Sultana (name changed), a division bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Najmi Waziri clarified there is no requirement in such circumstances for a woman who leaves the pale of Islam to prove her act in a trial. The mere act of apostasy dissolves the marriage if she so desires. 
KNOTTY ISSUE 
    A woman who converted to Islam then reconverted to Hinduism seeks divorce on the ground of apostasy 
    Husband seeks proof of her renunciation of Islam 
    HC rejects the husband’s contention that she needed to prove apostasy saying: “Being of a religious persuasion or belief in a particular religion and continuance thereof is an existential choice.”

No need to prove apostasy to get divorce: HC

    A woman married under Muslim personal law is not empowered, nor is she conferred a right to divorce her husband by apostatizing. All that the law states is that were a woman married under the Muslim personal law to apostatize, the marriage stands dissolved. In such circumstances, the woman is entitled to seek a decree of declaration that the marriage stands dissolved from the date of her apostatizing,” Justice Waziri said. 
    The bench went into the circumstances under which the pre-Independence Act was passed in 1939 to emphasize, if people come or are brought into Islam from a different religion, they should be permitted to go back for which there should be no bar. In such a scenario there must be an immediate dissolution of marriage. 
    The court was hearing an appeal filed by Sultana’s husband Asif challenging the grant of divorce by a Saket family court on her petition. Asif contested the act of Sultana’s reconversion to Hinduism and alleged she did it under pressure from her parents. Asif also cited Section 4 of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act that deals with the “effect of conversion to another faith” to contend that Section 4 prohibits dissolution of marriage only on the ground of apostasy. 
    On her part the estranged wife argued that for her reconversion to Hinduism no evidence was required as her mere statement ‘ipso facto’ amounts to abjuration of Islam and its tenets. She also filed an affidavit admitting to her apostasy along with two fatwas from two muftis. 
    The court agreed with the trial court verdict and ruled that Section 4 has not altered the rule of Muslim personal law that apostasy dissolves a marriage. Rejecting Asif ’s argument that Sultana needs to prove the act of apostasy, HC added, “Being of a religious persuasion or belief in a particular religion and continuance thereof is an existential choice. Manifestations of religious practices of a particular religion could lead to the inference of the person’s adherence to that religion. However, faith itself cannot be seen unless the person chooses to make it obvious, which in this case she has done.”