Muslim women, legal fraternity hail ruling

APPRECIATION Community leaders say Union should come up with legislation to govern marriage & divorce

Muslim women have welcomed the landmark decision by the Supreme Court which struck down the ‘triple talaq’ practice, holding it “illegal and unconstitutional”. Even former judges of the apex court as well as the Bombay High Court have hailed the ruling.

The order has come as a breather for the women who had been abandoned by their husbands on unreasonable grounds.

Sadiya Khan (22) from Pune had received three messages on her WhatsApp which almost brought a full stop to her life. She was shocked to see ‘Talaq Talaq Talaq’ message on her WhatsApp.

Welcoming the ruling, Sadiya said, “This has given a new hope for me and lakhs and lakhs of Muslim women. Now that this practice has been struck down, I am entitled to get a legal help and just divorce wherein my husband’s whims would not work.”

The apex court’s ruling has been appreciated by the legal fraternity which says that the majority view of the Constitutional bench, has rightly struck down the practice.

Retired judge of the Supreme Court and former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Justice (retd.) Sujata Manohar, said, “I am very happy with the majority judgement. I think they are right in saying that this is not an integral part of Islam because there are lot of Islamic countries that do not permit such a practice. Also, it is clearly in violation of Article 14. It will help a large majority of Muslim women who are left with no remedy after triple talaq.

“We have drastically amended so may laws like the Hindu law and the Christian law among others without the Uniform Civil Code. The Muslim Personal Law can also be amended so long as the provision is not an integral part of the religion. All citizens of India have similar rights therefore in fairness to all, I think we should have a UCC which takes the best features of all personal laws and is applied in uniformity,” Justice Manohar added.

Noor Jahan Niaz, president of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan group has also welcomed the ruling. She now looks at the BJP-led Union government to come up with a pragmatic legislation to govern the marriage and divorce of the Muslim community.