New Delhi, April 17 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider whether Muslims can opt to be governed by secular succession law, bypassing the inheritance rules under Shariat, without renouncing their religious identity.
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar issued notices to the Union government and the Kerala government on a petition filed by Naushad K K, a resident of Thrissur district in Kerala.
Naushad's plea sought judicial recognition for the right of Muslims to exercise full testamentary freedom - specifically, the right to opt out of restrictions placed by Muslim Personal Law when making a Will.
"The present writ petition seeks judicial recognition and protection of the right of Muslim individuals to testamentary autonomy," the petition stated. It added that this autonomy should extend to those who "explicitly and voluntarily choose to deviate from Muslim Personal Law (Shariat)" when it comes to inheritance.
Under Shariat law, a Muslim can only bequeath up to one-third of their estate through a will, and even this is limited to non-heirs in the Sunni tradition. The rest must be distributed among legal heirs based on fixed shares. The petition argued that this restriction, unless waived by the heirs, is constitutionally
problematic. "Any deviation from this is deemed invalid unless the legal heirs consent. This restriction on testamentary freedom raises critical constitutional concerns," the petition noted. Naushad contended that enforcing religious inheritance laws on individuals who have clearly chosen otherwise infringes upon their rights under Articles 14 and 25 of the Constitution - the rights to equality and freedom of conscience. The plea also pointed out that Muslims who marry under the secular Special Marriage Act are presumed to have opted out of Muslim Personal Law, including its inheritance provisions, even without stating so explicitly. "Yet, if a Muslim executes a will deviating from Shariat, it is often held invalid," the petition said.
Naushad urged the court to direct the Centre and state authorities to recognise wills made by Muslims under secular law, without requiring validation through religious inheritance norms.
The court ordered that the matter be heard alongside similar pending cases. These include a 2023 petition by Safiya P M, who identified as a non-believing Muslim and sought to apply secular succession laws to her property, and a 2016 plea by the Quran Sunnat Society.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.