Shah Bano was 62-year-old when her well-known lawyer husband threw her out of their Indore house.
The mother of five could have been yet another story of an oppressed woman subjected to humiliation by her husband.
Instead, Bano decided to fight her husband, the male-dominated society and changed the system forever. As many celebrate the landmark Triple Talaq judgment, here's a look back at the woman and her case that proved to be a milestone in the fight for rights of Muslim women.
Here's a brief time-line the Shah Bano case:
April, 1978: Mohammed Ahmad Khan divorces Shah Bano after his second marriage and refuses to provide her promised maintenance of Rs 200. Bano files a plea in a local court against her husband under Section 125 (Code of Criminal Procedure) asking him to provide the money for her and her children.
November, 1978: Mohammed Ahmad Khan gives Shah Bano an irrevocable talaq and says since she is not his wife under Islamic law, he is not obliged to pay her the maintenance.
August, 1979: Shah Bano wins maintenance case with the local court ordering Khan to provide her with maintenance of Rs 25 per month.
July, 1908: Shah Bano files another plea asking for a revised maintenance. The Madhya Pradesh High Court gives order in her favour with a revised maintenance of Rs 179.20.
February, 1981: The two-judge Bench refers the Shah Bano case to a larger Bench.
April, 1985: In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court rules in favour of Shah Bano and upholds the decision by the High Court.
1986: Rajiv Gandhi comes to power in 1984 after the assassination of his mother Indira Gandhi. In what is seen as caving in under pressure form Muslim hardliners, PM Rajiv Gandhi enacts a law in Parliament and overturns the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case. The 1986 Muslim Women (Protection on Rights of Divorce) Act diluted the Supreme Court judgment and allowed maintenance to a divorced woman only during the period of iddat, or till 90 days after the divorce.
