2. INTRODUCTION
– Of all things permitted by law, Divorce is the most hateful in
the sight of Allah: Holy Quran
– Triple Talaq, also known as talaq-e-biddat, instant divorce
and talaq-e-mughallazah, is a form of Islamic divorce which
has been used by Muslims in India. It allows any Muslim man
to legally divorce his wife by stating the word talaq three
times in oral, written, or more recently electronic form.
3. HISTORY
➔ Triple talaq is a 1,400 year-old practice among Sunni Muslims. It is
"manifestly arbitrary" and allows a man to "break down (a) marriage
whimsically and capriciously”.
➔ Muslim family affairs in India are governed by the Muslim Personal Law
(Shariat) Application Act, 1937. It was one of the first acts to be passed
after the Government of India Act,1935 became operational.
➔ Owing to these historical factors, the checks that have been placed on the
husband's unilateral right of divorce by governments of other countries
and the prohibition of triple talaq were not implemented in India.
4. Opposition And
Problems
– The practise faced opposition
from muslim women ,some of
whom filed a public interest
litigation in the supreme court
against the practise, terming it
regressive.
– The petitioners asked for section
2 of Muslim Personal Law
(Shariat) Application Act, 1937,
to be scrapped, describing it as
being against Article 14 of the
constitution (eqauality before
law)
– A survey by Bharatiya Muslim
Mahila Andolan revealed that 95
per cent of divorced women
received no maintenance from
their husbands.
5. Support
– Triple talaq has been supported by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board
(AIMPLB), a non-governmental body that supervises the application of
Muslim personal law. It propagates that the state does not have the right to
intervene in religious matters.
– Kapil Sibal cited Article 371A to state that even the Constitution does intend
to protect matters of practice, tradition and customs of communities
– It also warned that those who divorce for reasons not prescribed under
shariat will be socially boycotted in addition to calling for boycott of those
who use triple talaq recklessly and without justification.
6. CASESShayara Bano, 36
Shayara, who hails from Uttarakhand’s Hempur Daya in Kashipur, filed a petition
against triple talaq, halala and polygamy in the Supreme Court on February 23,
2016. She alleged her in-laws also forced her to undergo abortions six times,
mainly “with the intention of killing” her.
Gulshan Parween, 30
In 2015, she alleged her husband sent her a talaqnama on a Rs 10 stamp paper
when she was at her parents’ home. The English literature postgraduate said she was
subjected to domestic violence by him for dowry for over two years.
Aafreen Rehman, 28
Afreen Rehman got married in 2014 after finding a match through a matrimonial
portal. However, after a couple of months, she alleged, her in-laws started
mentally harassing her for dowry. Later, they even started beating her and in
September 2015 they asked her to leave their house, she alleged.
7. CASES
Ishrat Jahan, 31
A resident of Howrah in West Bengal, Ishrat Jahan was divorced by her
husband Murtaza through a phone call from Dubai.
In April 2015, her husband of 15 years, Murtaza, called and uttered the talaq
word thrice before hanging up. Murtaza had allegedly married another
woman and took away their four children with him.
Atiya Sabri, 28
Atiya Sabri, a resident of Saharanpur in Western Uttar Pradesh is the last
petitioner in the case.
She has two daughters, aged four and three. She alleged that after her second
daughter, her in-laws tried to poison her and she had to be hospitalised.
Her husband was arrested later and a trial is on.
8. Women’ Point of VieW
– The women are taking stand against the misinterpret of quran
taken by muslim leaders.
– They want equal rights as enjoyed by their husband.
– They also feel fostring of their kids should be responsibility of
both.
– Before divorce their husband should take care of their financial
aid.
9.
10. Judgement
– Allahabad High Court has termed ‘triple talaq’ as
unconstitutional.
– In Supreme Court, The bench that heard the controversial
Triple talaq case in 2017 was made up of multi-faith members.
The five judges from five different communities are Chief
Justice JS Khehar, a Sikh, Justices Kurian Joseph a Christian,
RF Nariman a Parsi, UU Lalit a Hindu and Abdul Nazeer a
Muslim.
– In a 397-page ruling, though two judges upheld validity of
triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat), the three other judges held that it
was unconstitutional, thus barring the practice by 3–majority.
