{"id":34864,"date":"2017-12-28T14:42:41","date_gmt":"2017-12-28T09:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=34864"},"modified":"2017-12-28T18:18:19","modified_gmt":"2017-12-28T12:48:19","slug":"bill-to-ban-instant-triple-talaq-instroduced-in-lok-sabha-opposition-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/politics\/bill-to-ban-instant-triple-talaq-instroduced-in-lok-sabha-opposition-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill to ban instant triple talaq instroduced in Lok Sabha, Opposition protests"},"content":{"rendered":"

PM Narendra Modi appeal to Opposition parties to support the Bill fails, BJP issues whip to party MPs to ensure Bill\u2019s passage in both Houses of Parliament<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Union minister for law and justice Ravi Shankar Prasad,\u00a0on Thursday<\/span><\/span>, introduced the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill in the Lok Sabha, amid protests from All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and reservations expressed by the Congress party, RJD, All India Muslim League and Biju Janata Dal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bill, for whose passage Prime Minister Narendra Modi <\/a>has sought support of all political parties, seeks to criminalise instant triple talaq \u2013 a practice declared as \u201carbitrary, unconstitutional and unislamic\u201d by the Supreme Court in August this year \u2013 and proposes a three year jail term and fine for any Muslim husband who pronounces talaq-e-biddat against his wife.<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon after the Supreme Court had declared instant triple talaq as illegal and, in a minority verdict urged for a legislative framework to ban the practice, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had constituted a group of ministers comprising Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad to draft a stringent law that would act as a deterrent against talaq-e-biddat.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bill, drafted by the committee without any consultation with Islamic organisations like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), parliamentarians who weren\u2019t part of the group of ministers, social organisations who work with victims of instant triple talaq and other stakeholders, has evoked a mixed response from various sections of the Islamic community.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Thursday<\/span><\/span>, as Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad <\/a>introduced the Bill in the Lok Sabha, Owaisi opposed it saying: \u201cThis bill violates fundamental rights and lacks legal coherence. It will be an injustice to Muslim women.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Prasad retorted, asserting that the introduction of the Bill marked a \u201chistoric day\u201d for India and its Muslim women and said that the draft legislation \u201cis for women\u2019s rights and justice and not regarding any prayer, ritual or religion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There are several aspects of the Bill and even the process adopted by the government for drafting it that the Opposition members and a section of the Islamic community are protesting against. However, its passage in the Lok Sabha is almost certain given the brute majority that the BJP enjoys in the House. The BJP has already issued a whip to all its MPs, ordering them to be present in Parliament\u00a0on Thursday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0Friday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0when the Bill is debated for consideration and passage. While getting the Bill passed by the Lok Sabha will be easy for the BJP, the Centre could face a stiff challenge in the Rajya Sabha where it lacks a majority.<\/span><\/p>\n

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik\u2019s Biju Janata Dal, which Prasad had reportedly reached out to earlier to seek support for the Bill, has also opposed the draft legislation. Senior BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab told the Lok Sabha that his party does not support the Bill as \u201cit is flawed\u201d and has \u201cmany internal contradictions\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cinternal contradictions\u201d in the Bill that Mahtab talked about are many. For instance, while the Bill clearly declares in Section 3 that instant triple talaq \u2013 pronounced verball, in written or electronic form \u2013 shall be \u201cvoid and illegal\u201d, Section 5 and 6 of the draft Bill go on to propose a \u2018subsistence allowance\u2019 for a Muslim woman who is victim of talaq-e-biddat and declares that she is entitled to the custody of her minor children.<\/span><\/p>\n

These sections of the draft law, when read together, raise a peculiar contradiction believe legal experts and also politicians who are opposing the Bill.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe most glaring internal contradiction is found in Sections 5 and 6 which discuss post-divorce issues such as a \u201csubsistence allowance\u201d for the woman upon whom instant talaq \u201cis pronounced\u201d and the \u201ccustody of her minor children\u201d as if her marriage is dissolved by the mere pronouncement of talaq-e-biddat. How could the authors of this Bill talk of post-divorce matters ignoring the fact that the pronouncement (instant talaq) has already been voided in Section 3 and cannot result in a divorce,\u201d wonders A Faizur Rahman, secretary-general of the Chennai-based Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought, in an article for\u00a0The Hindu<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who had assisted the Supreme Court as amicus curiae in the instant triple talaq case<\/a>, has said that he feels that his party can\u2019t support the Bill on two grounds. First, that the government \u201cdid not discuss the contents of the Bill with Opposition members before introducing it in Parliament\u201d and second, due to the incoherent nature of the Bill itself. \u201cIf someone is lodged in prison as a punishment for saying triple talaq, who will take care of his family,\u201d Khurshid said, alluding to the fact that the if, as per provisions of the Bill, a Muslim husband is jailed for pronouncing talaq-e-biddat then how would he pay the \u2018subsistence allowance\u2019 to his wife as guaranteed in the draft legislation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Congress sources told India Legal that although the party is likely to eventually support the Bill in Parliament, knowing well that it cannot afford to let the BJP take all credit for criminalises a practice that has adversely affected lakhs of Muslim women across the country, it would also vociferously protest against the Bill\u2019s provision that makes instant triple talaq a \u201ccognisable and non-bailable offence\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the Congress, the draft Bill present a piquant situation. If the Grand Old Party, which has for decades been accused of appeasing the Muslims \u2013 a community that forms a significant votebank for the Congress \u2013 opposes the Bill, it stands to be accused by the BJP of betraying Muslim women. However, if it supports the draft legislation entirely, including the provisions that criminalise talaq-e-biddat, it stands to lose support among conservative Muslim men among the Sunni community who feel that the Bill impinges on a matter of Muslim Personal Law.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"