Almost a year after the Supreme Court delivered a landmark verdict on Triple Talaq, striking it down as unconstitutional by 3:2 majority, the Triple Talaq Bill - officially called Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017, remains to be passed in the parliament.
While some say that the bill interferes with the personal law of the Muslim community, the Muslim community of Guwahati seems largely to be in favour of the decision.
Muslim women of Guwahati rejoiced when the bill was earlier passed in the Lok Sabha last year. “Talaq-e-Biddat was never in favour of the women. If the bill is rightfully enforced, Muslim men will not be able to misuse the law for their own benefit and we’ll be provided with allowance in the form of maintenance which was not the case earlier,” said a woman on the condition of anonymity.
The draft law making Triple Talaq, or instant divorce, a criminal offence is likely to be taken up in the next session of the parliament as parties in the Rajya Sabha failed to reach an agreement over it during the Monsoon Session, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu informed the House during the latter half of the session on August 10.
The Gauhati High Court as well as the Family Court has seen cases of misuse of Triple Talaq. While most of these incidents go unreported, there are some women who gather the courage to approach the court and file a case against their spouses.
A case had been registered at the Family Court in 2017 wherein a woman reported that she had gone to her father’s house for some time and when she returned, her husband had already married another woman claiming that he had sent a letter addressed to her announcing talaq. In another case registered nine months ago, a woman had been sent an e-mail by the husband that carried an announcement for their talaq.
Speaking to G Plus, Baharun Saikia, an advocate of Gauhati High Court, informed that she has herself been a victim of male chauvinism. Married in 1999, Saikia received two Talaqnamas in 2009, stating that her husband wanted to divorce her because she did not go by the Sharia. Being a liberal and educated woman, she knew the law and her rights. So she filed a case against her husband at the Gauhati High Court. The case had remained pending in the High Court until the Supreme Court’s judgement was announced and all cases of Triple Talaq became null and void.
Speaking on the Muslim Women Bill being pending in the parliament, she said, “We the victims of triple talaq had high hopes that the bill would be passed at the earliest and even now, I think that it is imperative that the bill gets passed in the next parliamentary session. Once the bill is passed, the law will become fair for women as the men who practice triple talaq will not be able to declare talaq without proper reasoning.”
Government makes amendments for clearance in RS
The bill that prohibits divorce of Muslim couples by pronouncing 'talaq' back-to-back thrice by their husbands was passed in the Lok Sabha on December 28, 2017 but it has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP-led national coalition NDA is in minority.
Earlier, the cabinet signed off on changes to the triple talaq law to dilute two contentious provisions in hopes that it could pass through the opposition-dominated upper house. The first change allows only a woman or a close relative to file a police case against her husband for instant triple talaq, the second amendment allows her to drop the case if the husband comes around later and they arrive at a compromise and the third amendment mandates that the magistrate can decide on releasing the husband on bail only after hearing the wife. But the government hasn't toned down the three year jail penalty for the husband or the provision that only empowers a magistrate, and not a local police officer, to release the accused on bail.
The government had hoped that the tweaks cleared by the cabinet would persuade some non-NDA parties, which had concerns about the misuse of the law, to support the bill in its new form.
In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too underlined his commitment to the passage of the instant triple talaq legislation in the Parliament.
"The practice of triple talaq has created problems in the lives of Muslim women. We brought the law in the parliament, but some people are not allowing it to pass. I assure you would not be let down. I will do all it needs (to bring the law)," PM Modi said.
Speaking to G Plus about the delay in passing of the bill, Irfanullah Nizami, a prominent businessman of Guwahati pointed out, “The bill should come into effect at the earliest. I feel that the amendments in the bill and the punishments proposed are justifiable. According to the community law also, a wife is accustomed to getting maintenance from her husband. And if the law is passed, the husband will be jailed and liable to fine, he shall fear before unjustly declaring triple talaq.”