SC to examine secular succession law for Muslims' ancestral property

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to examine whether Muslims can be governed by India's secular succession laws for matters related to ancestral property instead of the Shariat without having to renounce their faith.

According to a PTI report, a bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar took note of a plea by Naushad K K, a resident of Thrissur in Kerala, who expressed his wish to be governed by the succession law rather than Shariat, without renouncing his religion.

PTI reported that the bench has issued notices to the Centre and the Kerala government to file their responses to his plea.

The bench has further ordered tagging of the plea with two other pending cases on the issue. Earlier in April last year, the bench had agreed to consider a plea of Safiya P M, a resident of Alappuzha and general secretary of ‘Ex-Muslims of Kerala’, stating that she is a non-believer Muslim woman and wanted to deal with her ancestral properties under the succession laws. Another plea filed in 2016 by ‘Quran Sunnat Society’ is also pending in the top court, which will now hear the three petitions together.