The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday quashed a lower court order rejecting a divorced Muslim woman's prayer for maintenance.

The HC also directed the lower court to ascertain whether the separation was in accordance with Shariat (Islamic jurisprudence).

Justice I M Quddusi, allowing a revision filed by the woman challenging a Sitapur court order, directed it to record findings after giving both parties an opportunity of being heard and adducing evidence in support of their averments whether the talaq had been effected in accordance with Shariat.

The court said that the talaq law as laid down by the Quran was: it must be pronounced in three different sittings; it must be for a reasonable cause; and it must be preceded by an attempt of reconciliation between the husband and the wife by two arbiters -- one chosen by the wife's family and the other by the husband.

Sadiqunnissa pleaded that she was tortured and thrown out of her husband's house after she failed to fulfil the dowry demand.

Later, when she and her two-year-old son filed an application under Section of the 125 Criminal Procedure Code (for maintenance), her husband Wasi Khan filed an objection saying he had already divorced her and that the talaqnama (divorce paper) was sent to her through registered post.

The court had accepted the husband's plea and rejected Sadiqunnissa's application as not maintainable in view of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986.

The HC directed the lower court to restore Sadiqunnissa's application in its original number and reconsider whether the right of claiming maintenance by the son under Section 125 CrPC would be affected by the dispute.

The HC also directed the lower court to decide the application for interim maintenance of the petitioner, preferably within two months.