SHEEBA PULIKKAL Vs. SHOUKATH ALI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Is the jurisdiction of the civil court (and consequently the Family Court) ousted by the enactment of Muslim Women (Protection of Right son Divorce) Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the M.W. Act')

(2.) We shall briefly refer to the factual matrix before we advert to the question of law. The claimant is the divorced wife of the respondent. After divorce,she preferred O.P. No. 815 of 2007 claiming return of 80 sovereigns of gold ornaments worth Rs. 5.6 lakhs and an amount of Rs. 8.7 lakhs which according to her were allegedly being retained by her divorced husband illegally. In Obese circumstances, she claimed return of the gold ornaments/cash by her husband and preferred the claim before the Family Court.

(3.) The claim was resisted. Inter alia, it was contended that the Family Court has no jurisdictional competence to entertain the petition. It was contended that such a claim by the divorced wife was maintainable only before the learned Magistrate having jurisdiction under Section 3 of the M.W. Act. It was prayed, in these circumstances, that the Original Petition maybe dismissed as not maintainable.