Supreme Court Refers Dawoodi Bohra Excommunication Case To Nine-Judge Bench Constituted For Sabarimala Matter

A five judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, heading by Justice SK Kaul, has referred the question on validity of the practice of excommunication in the Dawoodi Bohra community to the nine-judge bench which has been constituted to review the Sabarimala Judgement.

Dawoodi Bohra is a sect of Shia Muslims, wherein the practice is that the leader can excommunicate or expel any member, whereby the member would be denied access to Mosque and burial ground, etc.

In October last year, the five-judge bench had reserved its decision on whether the matter should be referred to a larger bench.

The bench comprising of Justices SK Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, AS Oka, Vikram Nath and JK Maheshwari has held that the nine-judge bench in Sabarimala has to consider questions relating to the scope of judicial review of practices and therefore, the present matter shall be referred to the same bench.