‘We support Muslim women demanding abolition of triple talaq’

National secretary of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) Sehba Farooqi on Sunday addressed a press conference in Lucknow expressing objections over triple talaq.

“We support the demand of Muslim women for abolition of the instant arbitrary triple talaq. In its own campaigns AIDWA has seen overwhelming support of Muslim women for this demand,” she said.

She said that AIDWA strongly disapproved the retrograde position taken by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board in this regard in its petition to the Supreme Court.

“Their position has nothing to do with religious belief as most Muslim countries do not have this obnoxious practice of instant and arbitrary divorce,” she said.

However, AIDWA condemned the Uniform Civil Code. “Instead of sermonising and communalising issues concerning women’s rights, the government should come up urgently with a law against honour killing which is being opposed by caste-based ‘khap panchayats’,” said Madhu Garg, state president, AIDWA.

“AIDWA holds that at the present juncture the goal of equality for all women across communities can be better achieved through a process of reforms in personal laws. Uniformity of inadequate laws does not amount to equality. At the same time, the present framework of secular laws should be improved and expanded,” she added.