How a Kerala woman became lawyer after dissolving her marriage using ‘Khula’

Shamna Sherin from Kerala got married while she was in her third year of graduation. Like any other girl, she also thought her life would change for the good after the marriage and she would be allowed to study more and build a career of her own. But her dreams were shattered when her freedom was totally curtailed. But Shamna was not just an ordinary girl who would allow anybody else to force a life upon her and silently face it.

This 26-year-old girl from an orthodox Muslim family in Tirur, Malappuram, came out of the marriage and boldly used “Khula”, a Sharia law for a Muslim woman to divorce her husband, to liberate herself from the shackles of a marriage which totally curtailed her freedom.

“I was born and brought up in an orthodox Muslim family where there were a lot of restrictions. At the time of my marriage, I thought that I was lucky to get a partner who would allow me to pursue my studies and chase my passion. But things became worse a few days after the marriage,” Shamna told “Open Digest.”

“I will never wish for anyone to go through the gaslighting, the trauma that I went through in my married life. Life was hell for me. But I wasn’t ready to suffer it in silence. I also suffered Postpartum depression (PPD) ,” she said.

Shamna decided to pursue her higher studies and build a career in law. She joined for an LLB course at Ernakulam Law College. “I wanted to join for LLB in Delhi University. But I wasn’t allowed. So I was forced to study in Kerala. Even I could not attend classes for an entire semester because of mental trauma. But I was determined to complete my studies,” Shamna said.

In February 2024, Shamna finally got enrolled as a lawyer in the Kerala High Court. In fact, her LLB studies also helped her to learn more about the Sharia law “Khula” and how it can be invoked to divorce her husband. “I decided to invoke Khula because I don’t want my 3-year-old daughter to grow up in a toxic environment. The LLB course taught me about the different laws for coming out of an abusive marriage. When I invoked Khula, I faced a lot of stiff opposition from my own family. They wanted me to compromise and go back to a normal life with my husband,” she said.

Shamna, who finally got divorced through Khula in January 2024, is planning to set up an NGO which will help women to come out of abusive marriages and build an independent life. “The patriarchal society has created a norm that women should suffer everything in silence. A lot of women are suffering in silence as they don’t have the courage to move out. I will be the helping hand for those women who want to exit abusive marriages,” she said.