Modi wades into battle over ‘triple talaq’ law

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday waded into a controversy over a Muslim divorce law he said was destroying women’s lives, drawing criticism from rivals that he was fishing for minority votes in a major state election next year.

Modi criticised the socalled “triple talaq”, that allows a Muslim man to part from his wife by saying “I divorce you” three times, in a speech in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, due to go to the polls next spring.

“The lives of Muslim women cannot be allowed to be destroyed by ‘triple talaq,’” Modi told a rally in the town of Mahoba. “It is the responsibility of the government and people of the country to give justice to Muslim women.”

Case filed

Muslim women in India have long demanded a ban on the practice, banned in most Islamic countries but allowed by the Indian constitution.

The national Law Commission recently sought public views on whether to abolish the practice, triggering a debate between politicians and religious leaders.

More than 24 Muslim women’s rights groups, who wrote to Modi demanding reforms to Muslim laws on divorce and polygamy, have also filed a petition in the Supreme Court.