New DelhThe Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the instant triple talaq bill that criminalises the practice of instant divorce among the Muslim community, with up to three years in jail for the husband.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, was passed after the House rejected a string of amendments moved by various opposition members.
MPs from the RJD, AIMIM, BJD, AIADMK and All India Muslim League opposed the bill, calling it arbitrary in nature and a faulty proposal.
Two amendments moved by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi and one by BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab were negated in the Lok Sabha. Congress leader Sushmita Dev and CPIM’s A Sampath were also negated in the Lower House.
The bill would only be applicable on instant triple talaq or ‘talaq-e-biddat’. It gives power to the victim to approach a magistrate seeking “subsistence allowance” for herself and minor children. A victim can also seek the custody of her minor children from the magistrate.
Under the law, instant triple talaq in any form spoken, in writing or by electronic means such as email, SMS and WhatsApp would be illegal and void.
The bill will now be sent to the Rajya Sabha for passage before it is forwarded to the President for signing it into law.
The bill is likely to sail through the Rajya Sabha, where the government lacks majority, given the Congress’s stated support to the legislation.
The move comes months after the Supreme Court set aside by a majority verdict the practice of triple talaq, saying the practice was void, illegal and unconstitutional. The apex court held that triple talaq is against the basic tenets of the Quran.
As the Lok Sabha passed the bill, Muslim women hailed it as victory. They have fought for this for long. This will act as deterrence, Noorjahan, a victim of triple talaq.
Earlier on Thursday, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, calling it a “historic day” amid opposition by members of different parties, including RJD, AIMIM, BJD and All India Muslim League.
Prasad exhorted the Lok Sabha to not link triple talaq bill with religion, politics or vote bank.
AIMPLB express serious reservations’
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Thursday expressed serious reservations over the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill which was passed by the Lok Sabha and said it will take steps through democratic means to “amend, improve or scrap” it.
The Shia Waqf Board, meanwhile, called for making the punishment to those indulging in ‘triple talaq’ more stringent.
“We will take whatever steps required through democratic means to amend, improve or scrap it. There is no move to go to court as of now…The bill was brought in a haste,” AIMPLB spokesperson Maulana Khalil-ur-Rehman Sajjad Nomani told PTI.
He said the board should have been taken into confidence on the issue.
“Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad while tabling the bill also quoted the board and a lady MP of the ruling party tried to answer the queries raised by the Board in a letter to the prime minister proving that the government recognises the board. So the board should have been taken into confidence,” Nomani said.
However, AIMPLB member Zafaryab Jilani hinted that the board may approach the supreme court against the triple talaq bill once it is passed by the Parliament.
“An option is always open to challenge the law passed (by the Parliament), which is against the Supreme Court’s judgement and the Indian Constitution, in the Supreme Court.
“Convenor of our legal committee has also suggested that it can be challenged in the court. However, we will decide our future course of action once the Bill is passed and law is enacted,” Jilani told a news channel.
AIMPLB wanted that the triple talaq bill should not be in conflict with either the Constitution, supreme court order or Muslim personal law board, he said.
“We had demanded that Bill should have been prepared only after consultation of representatives of Muslim women organisations, All India Muslim Personal Board, but it doesn’t mean that we were against the Bill.
“We just wanted that Bill should not be in conflict with either Constitution of India, Supreme Court Judgement or Muslim Personal Law Board,” he said.
The president of the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB), Shaista Amber welcomed the tabling of the bill but insisted that it should be in the light of Quran.
“We welcome the tabling of the bill and this has given lots of hope to the women as triple talaq is an evil which has been haunting them,” she said.
Amber, however, added that any law enacted in this regard should be in the light of the Quran and Constitution to make it acceptable to the community.
President of the Shia Waqf Board, Wasim Rizvi however said that he had sent a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making the punishment to those indulging in the practice more stringent.
“I have urged the Prime Minister through a letter that a jail term of 10 years to those indulging in triple talaq and lodging a criminal case against them,” Rizvi said.
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