After triple talaq bill, woman told to remarry husband

BAREILLY: Hours after Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad mentioned the case of a Rampur woman while introducing the triple talaq bill in the Parliament, a local panchayat asked her to observe ‘iddat’ and ‘halala’ as the couple decided to remarry.

‘Iddat’ is the period of separation observed by a woman after divorce or death of spouse, while ‘halala’ entails marrying another man, consummating marriage and divorcing him before remarrying previous husband.

Ironically, the panchayat’s decision gave credit to the triple talaq given to her by her husband.

The 21-year-old woman, a resident of Ajimnagar in Rampur, was given triple talaq on Tuesday allegedly because she had overslept.

Her husband, who is a driver, pushed her out of the house on Wednesday saying that he could not live with her anymore.

Abandoned by her husband, she left for her parents’ house. On Thursday, a panchayat was hurriedly called by both the sides when the matter was widely reported in the media after the law minister’s speech.

“The couple agreed to remarry after the woman was asked to observe ‘iddat’ and ‘halala’. The panchayat was held with the consent of the woman’s family and her in-laws. The decision was given with the maulvi’s consent,” village head Sarfraz Ahmed said.