The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has made it clear—instant divorces fired off through a text message won’t stand in law. A plea to quash an FIR against a man accused of sending triple talaq over SMS has been shot down, with the Court underscoring that such divorces are void, illegal, and punishable with up to three years behind bars.
The case traces back to a 2022 complaint in Kupwara, where the man was accused of ending his marriage in one stroke by texting his wife. He claimed he had already followed the more accepted form of divorce, Talaq-e-Ahsan, through a formal talaq nama in line with Shariat. On that basis, he argued that the FIR was baseless.
But the screenshots told another story. The Union Territory’s representatives argued that the text messages clearly reflected triple talaq, and the Act of 2019 squarely criminalizes this form of “instant and irrevocable” separation, whether said aloud, written, or transmitted electronically.
Justice Javed Iqbal Wani, while hearing the plea, leaned on the statute’s plain wording: under Section 3 of the Act, any form of instantaneous talaq is void and illegal; Section 4 prescribes punishment. The Court also cited the Supreme Court’s stance that inherent powers can’t be used to prematurely derail a prosecution.
In the end, the High Court refused to interfere, keeping the FIR alive. However, it clarified that this decision was limited to the quashing plea and should not be mistaken as a verdict on guilt or innocence.
