The Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Siddiqua Begum Khan, daughter of Shah Bano Begum, seeking a stay on the release of the Hindi film Haq, which she claimed was based on her late mother’s life and made without the family’s consent.
The Indore bench, in its order dated November 4 (delivered to the parties on Thursday), found no grounds to interfere and cleared the way for the film’s release on November 7.
Justice Pranay Verma, while rejecting the plea, observed, “Thus, in view of the aforesaid discussion, I am of the considered view that the petitioner has failed to make out any case for interfering in the matter. Consequently, the petition is found to be devoid of any merits and is hereby dismissed.”
The film, starring Yami Gautam Dhar and Emraan Hashmi, is said to be inspired by the life and legal struggle of Shah Bano Begum, whose landmark 1985 case led the Supreme Court to rule that divorced Muslim women were entitled to maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Khan had alleged that the movie misrepresented personal aspects of her mother’s life and was produced without consultation with the family. However, counsel for the production companies strongly opposed these claims and urged the court to dismiss the petition.
Justice Verma had reserved his order after hearing both sides on November 4, and the copy of the judgment was later shared with the petitioner’s counsel.
Shah Bano’s fight for maintenance from her lawyer-husband, Mohammad Ahmed Khan, became one of India’s most influential legal battles. Though the Supreme Court ruled in her favour, the 1986 enactment of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act by the then Rajiv Gandhi government effectively overturned the verdict, sparking a long-running national debate on women’s rights, secularism, and personal law.
