Better to divorce a woman than kill her, Muslim law board tells SC

It is better to divorce a woman than kill her, the allIndia Muslim personal law board told the Supreme Court on Friday, defending the practice of triple talaq that faces legal challenge for bias against women.

The AIMPLB, a non-governmental institution that oversees Muslim personal law, also said the Muslim law gave husbands the power to divorce as they were emotionally more stable.

“Shariah grants the right to divorce because men have greater power of decision making. They are more likely to control emotions and not take a hasty decision,” the board said in an affidavit.

Triple talaq, under which a Muslim man can repeat the word talaq thrice to divorce his wife, violated women’s right to equality, several women have told the Supreme Court.

But the board said in case of a discord, divorce was a better option available to a Muslim man than him resorting to “criminal ways of getting rid of her (wife) by murdering her”.

The rights bestowed by religion couldn’t be questioned in a court of law, it said. The Quran didn’t fall within the expression of “laws” that could be challenged. The Supreme Court couldn’t interfere with religious freedom and “rewrite personal laws in the name of social reform”, it said.