Supreme Court Stays Uttarakhand High Court Order Banning Fatwas In 15 Year-Old Girl’s Rape Case

The Supreme Court today (12 October) stayed an order issued by the Uttarakhand High Court (HC) in which the HC had ordered a blanket ban on issuing of fatwas by religious bodies, Bar And Bench has reported.

The bench, consisting of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta, stayed the order after an appeal was filed in the Supreme court by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind.

Earlier, the Uttarakhand High Court had ordered a ban on fatwas after it took cognisance of a newspaper report brought to its notice and registered a suo-moto case.

As per the report, a farman (diktat) was issued by a panchayat in Lakshar, Haridwar ordering the family of a 15 year-old rape victim to compromise with the accused or leave the village for someplace else.

The HC came down heavily on the matter and ordered police to frame charges on the panchayat members.

“The panchayat, instead of sympathising with the rape victim, had the audacity to extern the family from the village. Fatwa is nothing but extra-constitutional adventurism, not permissible under the Constitution”, the HC had said.

The appellant has contended in Supreme Court that the newspaper report talks about a ‘farman’ and not ‘fatwa’ and hence the HC has erred in its decision.