Modi government approves ordinance on triple talaq

New Delhi: Ahead of Assembly elections in five states, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an ordinance making triple talaq a criminal offence, with the government stating that there was a “compelling necessity” and “overpowering urgency” to do so.

The ordinance, which will be sent to the President for approval, comes against the backdrop of the government’s inability to get a bill on the issue passed in the last monsoon session of Parliament. The government then brought some changes in the original bill providing for only the women or their blood relations to file complaints against the erring husbands in a bid to get support from the Congress and other parties in the Rajya Sabha but did not succeeded in passing it.

Briefing reporters after a meeting of the union cabinet on why it was resorting to an ordinance, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that instances of instant triple talaq have “continued unabated” in spite of the Supreme Court declaring it unconstitutional and Lok Sabha passing a bill that is now pending in the Rajya Sabha. He attacked the Congress and said it had not supported the bill in the Rajya Sabha due to “vote bank politics”. Prasad said the issue pertained to respect for women and not to religion or path of worship. “The issue of triple talaq has nothing to do with faith, mode of worship. It is pure issue of gender justice and gender equality.”