Supreme Court: Muslim Women Can Claim Return of Wedding Gifts on Divorce

Dec 4, 2025 – In an order that paves the way for financial autonomy of divorced Muslim women, the Supreme Court has ruled that they are legally entitled to receive back the mehr, cash, jewellery and other items which were gifted to the bride and the groom by her parents, relatives or friends at the time of marriage. The Court said these items given by a woman's family at the time of the marriage to the groom's side must be treated as the woman’s property and after the dissolution of the marriage, they must be returned to her.

Stressing that Courts must ground their reasoning in “social justice adjudication”, the Supreme Court set aside orders given by the Calcutta High Court in November 2022 and January 2024 that had ruled in favour of a woman’s former husband. The High Court order relieved him from returning some of the items the woman claimed were given to him at the time of their marriage. This case was filed under Section 3 of the Muslim Women Act, 1986, requesting an order to return property worth more than Rs 17.67 lakh which were gifted to the groom by her family at the time of her wedding.

A Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh allowed the appeal of Rousanara Begum challenging the Calcutta High Court judgment. The couple were married on August 28, 2005, and got divorced on December 13, 2011.

The Bench said that the provisions of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 must be interpreted in a way that fulfills the Constitutional promise of equality and autonomy, rather than being viewed merely as a civil dispute. The Court emphasised that the principles of equality, dignity and autonomy should remain central to the interpretation of the law enacted in 1986 to safeguard the rights of divorced Muslim women.

In its judgement, the Bench referred to Section 3 of the 1986 Act, which grants a divorced Muslim woman the right to all property given to her before, during or after marriage by her relatives, friends, husband the husband’s relatives or his friends.

#SupremeCourt #MuslimWomenRights #Mehr #IndianLaw #1986Act #WomenEmpowerment #LegalNews #Judiciary #Equality #Dignity #UdaipurNews #RajasthanNews