Bengaluru, June 26 -- The Telangana high court has held that a Muslim wife has an absolute and unconditional right to dissolve her marriage through khula, and that the husband's consent is not a prerequisite for its validity, in a significant ruling that underscores the autonomy of Muslim women within personal law. Khula is a form of divorce under Islamic law where a woman initiates the dissolution of her marriage, typically by relinquishing her claim to maintenance (mehr). Delivering the judgment on Tuesday, a bench of justices Moushumi Bhattacharya and BR Madhusudhan Rao noted that khula is a no-fault, non-confrontational mode of divorce, initiated solely at the wife's instance, and once the demand is made, it takes immediate effect in the private sphere. "Since the wife's right to demand khula is absolute and does not have to be predicated on a cause or acceptance of the demand by the husband, the only role of a Court of law is to put a judicial stamp on the termination of the marriage, which then becomes binding on both parties," it said. The bench was hearing an appeal filed by a Muslim man challenging a family court's 2024 order that had refused to nullify a 2020 divorce certificate (khulanama) issued by Sada-E-Haq Sharai Council, a non-statutory body comprising Islamic scholars, muftis and imams, that mediates marital disputes in line with Islamic personal law. The man had contested the divorce initiated by his wife after he declined to agree to a khula. The bench categorically stated that obtaining a certificate of divorce from a mufti or Dar-ul-Qaza (Islamic tribunal) is not essential to formalise a khula divorce. "The opinion given by a Mufti is advisory in nature," the bench said. "Approaching a mufti for a khulanama is not compulsory. the fatwa given by a Mufti is not legally enforceable in a Court of law." According to the judgment, a private khula becomes effective the moment the wife expresses her intention to dissolve the marriage, unless the matter escalates to a judicial forum. In such cases, the family court's role is limited and procedural. "The Family Court is simply to ascertain whether the demand of khula is valid upon an effective attempt to reconcile the differences between the parties; or any offer by the wife to return the dower. The enquiry should be summary in nature without long-drawn out evidence - adjudication," the court said. The judgment placed khula on equal footing with talaq, the unilateral right available to Muslim men to dissolve marriage, stating that both are unconditional modes of divorce. "A wife's right to khula is parallel to a husband's right to talaq. The husband may negotiate return of the mehr (dower), but cannot compel the wife to continue the marriage," noted the bench, referencing Quranic verses and multiple judicial precedents, including the Shayara Bano (2017) and Shamim Ara (2002) rulings by the Supreme Court. It further observed that neither the Quran nor the Hadith prescribes a mandatory procedure if the husband rejects the wife's demand for khula, thereby making any insistence on his consent both theologically and legally untenable. The wife in the present matter had approached the Council and demanded khula multiple times following failed reconciliation attempts. She was eventually issued a khulanama by the Council. Her husband, however, filed a petition in the family court, seeking to declare the certificate invalid. The family court dismissed the petition, prompting the present appeal....