Govt set to bring law to ban instant triple talaq

According to the sources, the reason behind the new cases of triple talaq could be lack of knowledge about the court order, or the absence of legal punishment.

Muslims organisations reacted to the government’s decision with caution.

Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli, who is a member the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), said the government should consult all stakeholders before introducing this proposed legislation in Parliament.

“Whatever the present government is doing it is sync with the apex court verdict,” he said.

Siddiqullah Chowdhury, minister in charge of library and mass education in the West Bengal government, said “quashing” Muslim law through legislation will be wrong.

“The government can certainly table a Bill on the basis of the Supreme Court judgment. But I think the right to talaq comes under the purview of Muslim personal l aw, and quashing it through legislation may be tantamount to interfering with fundamental rights,” he said

Chowdhury is the president of the Bengal unit of Jamiat Ulemae-hind, an organisation that runs the largest number of madarsas or Islamic seminaries in the state.

Mohammad Kamruzzaman, general secretary of the All Bengal Minority Youth Federation, too wanted the government to consult Muslims. “Interference of the government in this matter is not desirable,” he said.

Shaista Amber, president of the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board, welcomed the government’s decision.

“I want to thank the judges of the Supreme Court for banning triple talaq and I’m happy that the government is keeping its promise of making a law within six months of the court verdict,” she said.

The Congress said it will support any progressive step that protects the status of a Muslim woman but insisted on seeing the contents of the bill first.

“Unless we see the contents of the bill, we can’t comment on it. But having said that we support and stand by any progressive step that protects the status of a Muslim woman,” Congress leader Sushmita Dev said.

“I am skeptical because there is a difference in what they (government) say and what they do.”

The top court in August said triple talaq was against the tenets of Islam and violated gender equality. Its decision came on petitions of several Muslim women affected by the custom.

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections early this year, the issue of triple talaq dominated the public discourse, with the BJP terming it as an issue of gender justice and equality.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that lives of Muslim women could not be allowed “to be ruined” by triple talaq,”

While the opposition parties cried foul, accusing the BJP of trying to politicise the issue, the ruling party rejected the allegations, re-iterating the party’s commitment to gender justice. After the party’s resounding victory in UP, BJP leaders claimed a section of Muslim women had voted for the party because of its stance on triple talaq.

The government’s move to bring a bill in the forthcoming winter session of Parliament is likely to resonate in poll-bound Gujarat, too.

Talaq-e-biddat is banned in 22 Muslim-majority countries, including Pakistan and ultraconservative Saudi Arabia. Muslim men in India can still divorce using two other forms of talaq that have a three-month cooling off period.