Plea contests jury trial in Parsi special courts

Plea contests jury trial in Parsi special courts

Context

Half a century after the case of a young Parsi war veteran, Commander K.M. Nanavati, sounded the death knell for the jury system in India, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up the case of a Parsi woman, who has challenged the jury system still followed by her community’s special matrimonial courts as a violation of her fundamental right to life and dignity.

Backdrop

A petition filed by 33-year-old Naomi Sam Irani of Panchgani in Maharashtra against the pre-Independence Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act of 1936, which provides an opportunity for the “local Parsi people” to voice their opinion as jury on the family and marital affairs of an estranged couple

Triple Talaq referred

The counsel for Ms. Irani referred to how the apex court intervened on the behalf of Muslim women to strike down triple talaq as a practice in violation of their fundamental rights of life and dignity.

Against Privacy

Ms. Irani argued that involving the local populace in an intensely private dispute is a gross violation of her fundamental right to privacy.

Pre-independence era

The Act under challenge has been enacted in the pre-independence era, which also pre-dates the abolishment of the jury system in the jurisprudence of the country

Family Courts Act

Though the Parliament had enacted the Family Courts Act in 1984, the Parsi community is compelled to take their matrimonial disputes to the special courts, namely Parsi Chief Matrimonial Courts and the Parsi District Matrimonial Courts, established under the 1936 Act.

No Freedom

Even then,  the 1936 Act does not allow a woman the freedom to file her divorce case in the Parsi matrimonial court in her neighbourhood.