New Delhi: Fatwa issued by Muslim clerics cannot be forced upon people and the state has to protect persons who are harassed for not following such dictates, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said.
“We can protect people who are subjected to suffering due to this. When a pujari gives a date of Dushera, he cannot force someone to celebrate the festival on that day. If somebody forces them on you, then we can protect you,” the bench said after the petitioner pleaded that fatwa issued by clerics is unconstitutional.
“These are are political and religious issues and we do not want to go into it,” the bench said while hearing a PIL filed by an advocate Vishwa Lochan Madam challenging the constitutional validity of Shariat courts for allegedly running a parallel judicial system in the country.
All India Personal Law Board submitted fatwa is bot binding on people and it is just an opinion of Mufti and he has no power and authority to implement it.
