 "Haq: Shah Bano's daughter moves High Court to stop Emraan Hashmi & Yami Gautam starrer release: 'It misrepresents events from her late mother's personal life'")
The daughter of Shah Bano Begum, the Indore woman who fought a courageous legal battle to get alimony from ex-husband, has filed a petition in the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking a stay on release of Hindi film ‘Haq’ on grounds it misrepresents events from her mother’s personal life.
The film, directed by Suparn S Varma, is scheduled to hit theatres on Friday (November 7) and is said to be inspired by the Shah Bano case which resulted in a landmark judgement by the Supreme Court in 1985 on maintenance for Muslim women post-divorce.
The film stars actors Emraan Hashmi and Yami Gautam Dhar in lead roles.
The petition filed by Shah Bano Begum’s daughter, Siddiqua Begum Khan, in the Indore bench of the High Court claims the film was made without her family’s consent and that it misrepresents events from her late mother’s personal life.
Khan’s lawyer Tousif Warsi told PTI that his client’s petition was listed for the first time in the HC on Monday, and lawyers for the plaintiff and defendant appeared in the court.
Warsi said after a brief hearing, the court fixed the next date on Tuesday (November 4).
Shah Bano was a resident of Indore. She filed a lawsuit in a local court seeking maintenance from her lawyer-husband Mohammad Ahmed Khan after he divorced her in 1978.
After a lengthy legal battle, the Supreme Court ruled in her favour in 1985. The verdict by a five-judge Constitution bench of the apex court ruled that Muslim women were also entitled to maintenance under the law.
Following protests by Muslim organisations, the then-Rajiv Gandhi government enacted the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act in 1986. This law nullified the SC decision in the Shah Bano case.
Shah Bano passed away in 1992.