A Mufti, in his talk, said that in Jihad it is permissible kill the women and children of the kuffaar even if they do not participate in actual fighti

Answer

No! The Mufti is in grievous error. Jihad is a sacred institution of Islam. It is encumbered with many rules and regulations. Its primary objective is to spread and establish on earth the Deen of Allah Ta'ala. Its objective is not to kill people unnecessarily, especially in ways which are nugatory of the objective of Jihad.

Those who propagate the permissibility of indiscriminate killing of women, children and even males who are non-participants in the actual fighting suffer from myopic mental vision. His view is moronic. Muslims are not expected to behave like the barbarians of the Western world who excel in torture and brutality. Torture, mutilation and indiscriminate killing are haraam.

The Ahaadith explicitly prohibit killing women, children, monks in their monasteries, the blind and physically deformed persons. Also prohibited by Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) is unnecessary killing of animals, setting fire to vegetation and destroying orchards, All acts of unnecessary destruction are prohibited in Jihad. This command of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) was strictly implemented by the Khulafa-e-Raashideen.

If indiscriminate killing was allowed, then Rasulullah's prohibition to kill women, children, etc. would be meaningless. However, when those who are exempted from being killed also participate in the fighting or aid the fighting against Muslims or the kuffaar soldiers use them as shields, or they happen to be in the kuffaar barracks and fortresses which Muslims are attacking, then killing them becomes either unavoidable or necessary. But when they pose no threat to the Muslim army, it will not be permissible to kill them

To kill women and children in retaliation for the barbarous acts of the kuffaar army is not permissible. Kuffaar are barbarians. Muslims are not supposed to acquit themselves as barbarians and savages. Placing bombs in marketplaces, churches, on trains and planes used by the general public and in other public places frequented by the ordinary people who are not involved in the actual fighting nor are they part of the war machinery, is not permissible.

Those who advocate indiscriminate killing, either intentionally or stupidly, cast a blind eye on the Ahaadith and the rulings of the Fuqaha prohibiting such killing. Since they are not grounded in Knowledge, they lack the understanding of reconciling the apparently contradictory narrations. Killing those who are normally exempted, is the exception to the general rule, and is dictated by special circumstances.