Yami Gautam Dhar and Emraan Hashmi are set to star in an upcoming courtroom drama, Haq. Directed by Suparn Varma, the film is inspired by the 1985 Supreme Court judgement in the Mohd. Ahmed Khan vs. Shah Bano case.
Shah Bano Begum was a Muslim woman married to a prominent lawyer, Mohammed Ahmed Khan. The two tied the knot in 1932 and had five children together. After 14 years of being together, Ahmed married another younger woman and lived with both the wives for some years after which he abandoned Shah Bano, who was then 62. He promised to give her Rs 200 for her maintenance which he stopped in 1978.
Shah Bano then filed a criminal suit under Section 125 of Criminal Procedure, which puts a legal obligation on a man to provide for his wife after the divorce if she is not able to fend for herself. Shah Bano asked for Rs 500 per month as maintenance. In November 1978, Ahmed verbally divorced her and announced that she ceased to be his wife, making him not responsible to provide for her maintenance after the period of Iddat, which is the time frame of usually three months that a woman must follow after the death of her husband or divorce before she can remarry.
In August 1979, the local court directed him to pay Rs 25 per month to Shah Bano, which was increased to Rs 179 after she filed a revisional application in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh.
Ahmed then filed a petition in the Supreme Court claiming that Shah Bano is not his responsibility as he had a second marriage as per provisions in Islamic Law.
In 1985, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgement, ruled in favour of Shah Bano, saying that a Muslim woman is entitled to the right to maintenance under a secular law, Section 125 over the traditional Muslim law, which limits the maintenance to a particular period of time.
The judgement sparked a controversy and eventually led to the enactment of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, wherein the time of maintenance was restricted to the Iddat period.
However, the act’s constitutional validity was later upheld by the Supreme Court which reinterpreted it to mean that a Muslim man must provide a fair provision for his divorced wife beyond the Iddat period until she remarries. The case is seen as among the most important judgements in Indian history as it sparked discussions on secular laws and personal religious laws.
From the recently released teaser, Haq seems to be inspired from the case. Yami plays Shazia Bano, who takes her husband Abbas (Emraan) to court after he abandons her and their children. There are some intense scenes in the courtroom where the two are arguing their case as the film dramatises the real incidents. As per the makers, the film is a “fictionalized and dramatized” version of events stated in the book titled, Bano: Bharat ki Beti written by Jigna Vora.
The film also stars Vartika Singh, Danish Husain, Sheeba Chadha and Aseem Hattangady in pivotal roles and is set to be released in theatres on November 7.