1) The Triple Talaq Bill aims to criminalize the practice of instant triple talaq among Muslims but the author argues it has a communal agenda of bringing in a Uniform Civil Code. 2) Existing laws like the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 already protect women's rights and there is no need for a separate law only for Muslim women. 3) Imposing criminal liability for uttering talaq thrice is illogical as the Supreme Court has already ruled it does not dissolve the marriage, and it could further marginalize Muslim women.

1. Triple Talaq Bill : Communalised
Agenda In The Garb Of Gender
Concern in India
Dr. Shirin Abbas
Associate Professor
Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication,
Symbiosis International University

3. Triple Talaq Bill
• The debate around the Triple Talaq Bill (The
Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on
Marriage) Bill 2019 is based on the petition filed
by Shaira Bano etc. as also the PIL by the
Supreme Court.
• Under this PIL the apex court has hinted that
certain Islamic Personal Laws practice gender
discrimination, thus violating the rights of
women as enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

4. What is the motive?
• This paper tries to prove that gender justice is a
mere posturing by the government. The real
intent is to chip away at Personal Laws to bring
in the Uniform Civil Code.
• It also tries to establish that a new law for
Muslim Women wasn’t necessary. There already
are laws in place that can be used to deliver
justice to women across all religions.

5. What is the difference?
• Under this divorcing through instant Triple
Talaq will be illegal, void and would attract a jail
term of three years for the offending husband.
• Certain safeguards have been added to prevent
the misuse of the proposed law.
• A magistrate can be allowed to grant bail "after
hearing the wife" the government has said.

6. Is nikah an archaic system?
• Islamic system of marriage and divorce has been
described by Justice Rohinton Nariman as
“astonishingly modern”.
• It provides for a woman’s right to seek talaq by
delegation, khula or dissolution of marriage, fask or
annulment, mubaraat or dissolution by mutual
consent.
• Besides for the marriage itself the woman has a right
to meher or consideration and her consent is
required before the marriage can be solemnised.

7. Flawed construct
• The words “sustenance allowance” and “child
custody” in the proposed Bill tend to convey that
utterance of the words talaq thrice has dissolved
the marriage, contrary to the Supreme Court
verdict.
• Today, as per law, a married woman is entitled
to an equal share in the family resources and has
a right to reside in the dwelling house
(matrimonial residence) free of violence or even
the threat of it.

8. The facts for you…
• As per Census 2011, among all divorced women,
68 percent are Hindus and 23.3 percent
Muslims.
• 5.5 in 1,000 Hindu couples tend to get
separated, including cases of wives being
abandoned by husbands.
• At 7.3 per 1000 women, Hindu divorce and
separation rate are much higher than that
among Muslims, which stands at 5.63 per
thousand women

9. Why a disparity?
• Under the same circumstances, the punishment
to a Hindu male is only one year, so it smacks of
a communal agenda in the guise of gender
justice.
• Also, what about the rights of the woman and
her maintenance and that of her family during
the three-year period?

10. Why Criminal Liability for one religion?
• Triple talaq pronouncement is treated as a single
talaq as such but the man would still have the
iddat period to either take it back or pronounce
it again.
• In the circumstances, it makes no sense to
impose criminal liability on something that has
no legal consequences.

11. Why a special law?
• Triple talaq had already been struck down by the
apex court. The judgment had not even hinted
that a statute criminalizing triple talaq be
enacted. So where does the criminal culpability
come from?
• Why must a special statute be created meant
only for Muslim women by a government which
pledges support to the concept of a uniform civil
code.

12. Why not strengthen the 2005 law?
• The Protection of Women from Domestic
Violence Act was enacted in 2005 to protect
the rights of all women and entitles them to
claim rights during the subsistence of marriage.
• This is a uniform civil law. There is already a
well-oiled machinery that is provided under this
statute. This also protects women subjected to
outright cruelty ranging from dowry demands to
abandonment.

13. Repercussions of a new law
• After the Supreme Court verdict, uttering ‘talaq’
thrice does not dissolve the marriage, but filing
criminal charges against the husband (for
pronouncing these words) certainly will.
An enraged husband will either pronounce talaq
in the approved form over a period of 90 days or
simply desert her as many Hindu husbands do,
leaving her high and dry.

14. Illogical argument
• The logic of a stringent law as deterrent is deeply
flawed. It has not worked in cases of dowry
murders, rape or child sexual abuse.
• If after initial arrest, the husbands are out on
bail and cases drag on for years, what will the
next demand be – instant justice by public
flogging?

15. Unwanted backlash
• The dimension of ‘criminality’ in inter-personal
relations, may have the unwanted backlash of
increasing Muslim women’s dependence on Sharia
Courts or Jamaat as the civil court procedures are
getting more complicated with the ‘criminality’
aspect.
• (Note: Since the submission of this paper on June
21, 2019, the The Muslim Women (Protection of
Rights on Marriage) Bill became the first piece of
legislation to be introduced in Parliament by the
Narendra Modi government in its second tenure. he
bill was tabled with 186 votes in favour and 74
opposing the legislation)

16. The dilemma
• The solutions offered leave Muslim women with
no choice but to rebel against the society that
surrounds them rather than seek solutions that
are congruous with their religious and societal
needs.
• The Bill has brought Muslim women to a
crossroad where their rights can only be assured
through a confrontation with their religious
identity.

17. Be the change you want to see
• The subjectivity of the Muslim women has to be
understood within the social mores that she exists
in.
• Her Muslim-ness is a part of her personality and she
cannot be alienated from it.
• Indian Muslim women today are unwilling to
remain mute spectators anymore as others ink their
destiny for them.
• These doubly marginalized minority within a
minority are finally asserting themselves to seek
their space in a male-dominated society, teeming
with bigots and hypocrites.

18. Thank You for your patience!
Dr. Shirin Abbas / SCMC/ SIU
shirin.abbas@scmc.edu.in/ +91-9335231305