TRIPLE TALAQ: SC RESERVES VERDICT

A powerful Muslim body defending the divorce custom of triple talaq told the Supreme Court on Thursday it was willing to ask ‘qazis’ to give brides the option to leave the controversial practice out of their marriage contract.

A five-judge constitution bench hearing multiple petitions by Muslim women to end triple talaq reserved its order. It did not say when it will take up the matter again.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board’s (AIMPLB) conciliatory position came in response to a suggestion by the court that an advisory be issued to qazis solemnising marriages to stop husbands from divorcing by saying talaq thrice in one go.

The board said the advisory will be issued in a week. Given that the board is not a statutory body its advice is not binding. The influential body has defended the divorce custom as a matter of faith.

The court had earlier asked the board if it was possible to give a woman the choice to say no to triple talaq at the time of executing the nikahnama, or the Islamic prenuptial agreement that spells out the rights and responsibilities of the groom and the bride.

The central government has backed the petitioners’ challenge to triple talaq, saying the custom was unconstitutional and against gender justice, and so must be scrapped.

On the last day of hearing, the board again questioned the government, saying the government should bring a law and not take the legal route to scrap the divorce practice.

“The government talks about constitutional morality but is not following the constitution,” its counsel Kapil Sibal said, adding that a law could have been brought for a social reform. The court could then test that law to infer whether it violates the constitution right to profess one’s religion, he said.

To this, the court asked how instant triple talaq could be practised when the board had accepted it to be sinful.

“Lots of sinful things are practised by society and they are protected by law,” Sibal replied.

The government has already told the court it will bring a matrimony law for Muslims if it were to strike down triple talaq.