PRAYAGRAJ, April 2 -- The Allahabad high court has clarified that under Mohammedan Law, a talaq takes effect the moment a husband pronounces it, and a subsequent court decree affirming it is merely declaratory in nature. The observation came as the high court allowed a wife's petition for maintenance against her second husband, overturning a family court decision that had rejected her claim. Justice Madan Pal Singh observed that while a court decree on talaq is important for legal recognition, it is "ordinarily declaratory in nature, which merely recognises or confirms the status of divorce that had already taken place." The decree does not create a fresh divorce from the judgment date but relates back to when the talaq was originally pronounced. The ruling came while hearing a plea by Humaira Riyaz, who challenged a Prayagraj family court order rejecting her maintenance claim under Section 125 CrPC from her second husband. The family court rejected her plea, claiming the 2005 divorce was not legally dissolved when she married in 2012. According to Humaira Riyaz's counsel, her first husband pronounced talaq on February 27, 2005. A civil court later issued a decree on January 8, 2013, validating the 2005 talaq. "During the pendency of the declaratory suit, but after her iddat period, the wife solemnised her second marriage in May 2012 and her second husband had full knowledge of the earlier divorce. Hence, the second marriage was valid as per Mohammedan law," the counsel argued. Justice Singh in the order dated March 10 observed that "where a husband pronounces talaq and subsequently approaches the court seeking a decree regarding the same, the decree passed by the court is ordinarily declaratory in nature, which merely recognises or confirms the status of divorce that had already taken place." The matter now returns to the family court to decide the wife's maintenance claim on its merits. Iddat is a mandatory waiting period under Mohammedan law that a woman observes after divorce or the death of her husband before entering into another marriage....