TRIPLE TALAQ GONE
SC five-judge Bench strikes down the practice by a 3-2 majority
The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a controversial Islamic instant divorce law as arbitrary and unconstitutional, a landmark verdict for gender justice that will end the practice of some Muslim men calling off a marriage on a whim.
The five judges were from India’s major faiths — Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.
In a split verdict, three of the five judges said the practice of saying “talaq”, or divorce, three times in one go — sometimes even over email, WhatsApp and letters — violated women’s right to equality and was against the tenets of Islam.
The dissenting note came from Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, who argued instant triple talaq should be suspended and the government asked to bring a law to regulate the practice within six months.
Instant triple talaq, or Talaq-e-Biddat, is banned in 22 Muslim-majority countries, including Pakistan and ultraconservative Saudi Arabia. Tuesday’s judgment means Muslim men in India can still divorce using two other forms of talaq that have a threemonth cooling off period.
“What is bad in theology is bad in law as well,” said Justice Kurian Joseph, who was part of the majority view.
Debate over the law pitted an unlikely coalition of Muslim women, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party which wanted the law quashed, against some Muslim groups which contended the state had no right to interfere in religious matters.
Tuesday’s verdict also comes as a shot in the arm of the BJP, which can showcase it to moderate voters of all faiths as a vindication of the party’s stand on gender justice and equality, as well as to counter accusations that it backs issues that undermine Islam in the country.
“This is a historic day for Muslim women. No Muslim women will have to go through the harassment that
It is a historic verdict. The judgement grants equality to Muslim women and is a powerful measure for women empowerment — Narendra Modi, PM
I suffered,” Shayara Bano, a 35-year-old divorced Muslim woman whose petition two years ago helped end instant triple talaq, said, adding, “I am happy that my 11-year-old daughter will not have to face such regressive practice when she grows up.”
In rare agreement, all mainstream political parties welcomed Tuesday’s verdict that Prime Minister Modi called historic and a “powerful measure for women empowerment”.
The Opposition Congress described it as “a progressive, secular judgement for equal rights of Muslim women in India.”
But the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a nongovernmental body that lobbies for the application of Islamic civil laws and opposes any ban on triple talaq, said it would react only after studying the judgment. “The Board has convened a meeting in Bhopal where we will examine the issue and plan the steps, if any, that will be taken next,” AIMPLB general-secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani said.