The next target should be polygamy
threat of triple talaq that hung over their heads has been removed — but it also sends out a strong message of gender equality. It is a great source of inspiration even for non-Muslim women too. If these poor Muslim women without any resources can fight their battle successfully, why can’t others?
The Supreme Court has used the word ‘unconstitutional’ to describe triple talaq in a majority judgment. The door is now open and other provisions like polygamy can be challenged on the basis of its being arbitrary and unilateral. In fact my understanding is that like triple talaq, the unrestrained right to polygamy also finds no sanction in the Quran.
In matters of social reform, the path is never smooth. You will hear about many cases where the man will still make three pronouncements and the woman will refuse to move out saying there is no legal sanction for triple divorce. And if she chooses to go to the police, it will be a fit case for prosecution under harassment and mental torture. If in two or three cases effective action is taken, people will simply forget about triple divorce.
This judgment brings to my mind an observation of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Sometime in the mid-1950s, Taya Zinkin, a correspondent from The Guardian, London had interviewed Panditji. She asked him what he considered his greatest achievement in life? Panditji had said: “I succeeded to secure rights for my Hindu sisters which were denied to them for centuries.” Then she asked and what his life’s greatest disappointment was ? Panditji shot back: “I could not achieve the same for my Muslim sisters.”