New Delhi

A Supreme Court Constitution bench on Tuesday issued notice on a batch of pleas for striking down the practice of polygamy and ‘nikah halala’ in Muslims and scheduled the hearing on petitions after the Dusshera holidays in October.

Nine petitions challenging these practices were listed on Tuesday for hearing before a five-judge bench.

The petitions have been filed by Muslim women and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay has challenged the constitutional validity of polygamy and ‘nikah halala’.

The cases were referred to the 5-judge bench by a 3-judge bench in March 2018.

On Tuesday, the apex court issued notices to the Central government, National Commission for Women, National Commission for Minorities, Law Commission, etc., and scheduled the matter for hearing in October.

Polygamy allows a Muslim man to have four wives, and once a Muslim woman has been divorced, her husband is not permitted to take her back even if he had pronounced talaq under the influence of any intoxicant, unless his wife undergoes ‘nikah halala’, which involves her marriage with another man, who subsequently divorces her so that her previous husband can remarry her.

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In 2017, the apex court had kept open the issue of polygamy and 'nikah halala', while quashing the practice of 'triple talaq'.