Wife sues Saudi King for divorce
By Vankatesh Mangala
A British-based wife of Saudi Arabia'sKing Fahd is suing the ailing monarch for a slice in his vast wealth in a divorce settlement, said a PTI report.
Janan Harb (57) is suing the 82-year-old King for a share of his estimated ? 32 billion fortune, London'sEvening Standard newspaper said, printing her picture after her lawyers overturned an appeal court ruling keeping the case secret. Harb, one of King Fahd'sthree wives, first filed a case against the Saudi sovereign in January 2004 under Britain'sMatrimonial Causes Act, claiming he had ?failed to provide reasonable maintenance for her?. Since then, the monarch'slawyers have attempted to keep the proceedings secret and claim sovereign immunity. It is too bad for the Saudi king that Britain is not as ?secular? as Government of India is, otherwise a mere triple talaq without any recourse for alimony for the woman would have sufficed. The provisions of Shariat are strictly observed in India thanks to the constitutional amendment that followed the Shah Bano case. She, like the wife of Saudi king sued and won Supreme Court support for alimony from her estranged Muslim husband. There was hue and cry from Mullahs, Imams that Islam was in danger. So the Congress party of Rajiv Gandhi came to the rescue and amended the Constitution upholding Shariat (Islamic law) over Indian Constitution that denies compensation from the husband to his estranged wife. The Saudi king cannot get away that easily in UK. He probably will cough up few millions of oil money.
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