Centre all set to bring law to ban instant triple talaq
Legislation to provide framework to prosecute Muslim men resorting to the form of divorce already outlawed by SC
NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government plans to bring in legislation to ban instant triple talaq in Parliament’s winter session, providing a legal framework to prosecute Muslim men calling off marriages using a custom outlawed by the Supreme Court.
Sources said on Tuesday the government had set up a ministerial panel and will either bring a new law or amend existing provisions to ban talaq-e-biddat and punish those practising it.
Talaq-e-biddat involves Muslim men divorcing their wives by mentioning the word “talaq”, meaning divorce, three times in one go, sometimes over email, Whats App messages or letters.
In August, the top court struck down the custom as arbitrary and unconstitutional in a verdict that was hailed as a watershed moment for gender justice in India. But in the next few months, several complaints of instant triple talaq poured in from across the country with Muslim women saying they were divorced through the custom despite the court order.
“Even police are helpless as no action can be taken against the husband in the absence of punitive provisions in the law,” a government source said.
The government’s proposed move could help plug that loophole. “It is to this end that the positive step being taken by the government of enacting a law will go a long way in deterring the Muslim husbands from divorcing their wives…,” the source said.