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Everything to know about the Shah Bano case that inspired Yami Gautam-Emraan Hashmi’s Haq
The courtroom drama starring Yami Gautam and Emraan Hashmi is inspired by the struggle of one woman who challenged the system: Shah Bano
Yami Gautam and Emraan Hashmi’s courtroom drama Haq hit theatres yesterday (November 7), and audiences are loving it. What many might not know, however, is that Haq takes inspiration from one of India’s most debated legal battles — the Shah Bano case, a turning point in the fight for Muslim women’s rights.
The real Shah Bano case
The story goes back to April 1978, when Shah Bano, a 62-year-old woman from Indore, took her husband, lawyer Mohammad Ahmad Khan, to court. Married since 1932 and mother to five children, she had been abandoned after her husband took a second wife. When he stopped paying her maintenance, she filed a petition under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) — a law ensuring financial support for a wife unable to sustain herself after divorce.
Khan contested the claim, saying that under Muslim Personal Law, he was obliged to support her only for the iddat period — a three-month waiting period after divorce or death of a husband. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board backed him, arguing that secular courts had no authority to interfere in matters governed by Shariat law.
The Supreme Court verdict
In 1985, the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, delivered its historic verdict — ruling in Shah Bano’s favour and upholding her right to alimony under the CrPC, applicable to all Indian citizens regardless of religion. The judgment was hailed as a progressive leap towards gender equality and even called for a Uniform Civil Code to ensure fairness across personal laws.
However, the ruling triggered widespread political and religious controversy. Late in 1986, the Rajiv Gandhi government passed the Muslim Women (Protection on Divorce) Act, effectively overturning the verdict and limiting maintenance to the iddat period. Shah Bano’s lawyer, Danial Latifi, later challenged the law’s constitutional validity. While the court upheld the Act, it clarified that a husband’s liability couldn’t be confined only to the iddat period. Subsequent Supreme Court interpretations, held that “within the iddat period” did not necessarily mean “only for the iddat period”.
Despite the long legal battle, Shah Bano eventually withdrew her maintenance claim, leaving behind a legacy that still sparks debate on equality, religion, and reform.
About the movie
In Haq, Yami plays Shazia, a simple, uneducated woman whose life unravels when her husband Abbas Khan (played by Emraan Hashmi) suddenly brings home a second wife. Humiliated and heartbroken, Shazia leaves with her children and later learns that Abbas has ended their marriage through triple talaq. Her fight for justice — for dignity, maintenance, and the right to live with respect — mirrors the real-life battle of Shah Bano Begum, whose case changed Indian law forever.
