Madhya Pradesh High Court Dismisses Shah Bano’s Daughter’s Plea, Clears Release of Haq
'Haq' hits screens today despite family fury.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench slammed the door on Shah Bano Begum’s daughter on Thursday, dismissing her desperate plea to halt the November 7 release of Bollywood drama Haq—a film inspired by the iconic 1985 alimony battle that reshaped Muslim women’s rights in India. Justice Pranay Verma ruled the petition “devoid of merits,” clearing the path for Yami Gautam Dhar and Emraan Hashmi to bring the landmark saga to screens after a tense legal showdown.
Siddiqua Begum Khan had stormed the court claiming Haq was produced without family consent and twisted intimate details of her mother’s life, who fought ex-husband Mohammad Ahmed Khan for maintenance post their 1978 divorce. The Indore resident, who passed in 1992, saw her case escalate to the Supreme Court, where a five-judge bench mandated alimony for divorced Muslim women under secular law—only for Rajiv Gandhi’s government to override it with the 1986 Muslim Women Act amid orthodox backlash.
Production lawyers shredded the plea, arguing artistic freedom and no legal infringement, leaving Justice Verma to reserve judgment on November 4 before delivering the knockout on Thursday. The order, now public, greenlights the film’s nationwide rollout, turning a 40-year-old judicial thunderbolt into cinematic lightning that promises to reignite debates on gender, faith, and law.
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Haq dramatizes Shah Bano’s defiance—from local courts to the apex bench—capturing the national storm that pitted progressive rulings against conservative fury. With the daughter’s objections crushed, the film’s makers celebrate a victory for storytelling, while critics brace for fresh controversies over privacy and portrayal in a still-divisive chapter of Indian history.
As theaters gear up for opening day, Haq isn’t just a movie—it’s a courtroom sequel, forcing India to revisit a woman’s fight that changed laws, sparked riots, and exposed the fault lines of secularism versus scripture. The credits roll, but the argument rages on.
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