AIDWA demands repeal of TT ordinance

LUCKNOW: After drawing flak from All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), the ordinance on Triple Talaq came under attack from All India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA) on Friday, which demanded that it should be repealed immediately.

“The ordinance is an attempt to undermine the democratic process since many organizations, including AIDWA , had demanded that the Muslim women ( Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017, pending in the Rajya Sabha, should be referred to a Select Committee for further discussion and debate before being brought in as a law,” said Malini Bhattacharya, president of the organisation. Mariam Dhawale, AIDWA general secretary, said the ordinance completely ignored the objections from many quarters to the criminalization of a civil offence. “We would like to point out that currently, in case of pronouncement of triple talaq, if a wife complains of being subjected to mental and/ or physical cruelty, she can take recourse to the law and register a case under Section 498A IPC,” said Bhattacharya.

She said putting a husband in jail would affect a wife’s maintenance rights as the husband will stop earning. “This and other allied needs like a home and other property right are what a woman requires the most when she is abandoned. The ordinance also reveals the government’s limited and patriarchal mindset when it allows a woman to approach the magistrate’s court only for a subsistence allowance. Why should the wife and children be only allowed to ask for a subsistence allowance while the law of maintenance for all women and children in the country clearly lays down that women and children should be given maintenance which will allow them to live in the same lifestyle that they were living in the marital home or ‘ shared household.’