Supreme Court suspends triple talaq for 6 months, asks Parliament to make a law

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Aug 22 2017, DH:The Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the Triple Talaq verdict for the next six months, until the Parliament brings in a legislation. Chief Justice of India (CJI) J S Khehar, while reading the judgement, said that "Talaq-e-biddat is not in violation of articles 14,15, 21 and 25 of the Constitution."

He further said the Talaq-e-biddat is an integral part of Sunni community, which is being practiced for the last 1000 years.New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the Triple Talaq verdict for the next six months, until the Parliament brings in a legislation. Chief Justice of India (CJI) J S Khehar, while reading the judgement, said that "Talaq-e-biddat is not in violation of articles 14,15, 21 and 25 of the Constitution."

He further said the Talaq-e-biddat is an integral part of Sunni community, which is being practiced for the last 1000 years.

Triple talaq victim and petitioner Shayara Bano on Tuesday said that she is confident that the judgment will be in her favour, adding a law would certainly be made regarding the matter."I feel the judgement will be in my favour. The time has changed and a law will certainly be made," Bano told ANI earlier.

The five-judge bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice Kurian Joseph, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice S Abdul Nazeer had reserved its verdict on May 18 after a six-day marathon hearing during the summer vacation.

The bench, made up of judges from different religious communities -- Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Hindu and Muslim, had heard seven pleas, including five separate petitions filed by Muslim women challenging the prevalent practice of ’triple talaq’ in the community.

During the hearing, the apex court had observed that the practice of ’triple talaq’ was the "worst" and "not a desirable" form of dissolution of marriage among Muslims, even though there were schools of thought which called it "legal".

The Centre had told the bench that it will come out with a law to regulate marriage and divorce among Muslims if ’triple talaq’ is held invalid and unconstitutional by the apex court.

The government had termed all the three forms of divorce among the Muslim community - talaq-e-biddat, talaq hasan and talaq ahsan, as "unilateral" and "extra-judicial"

As the Centre sought to flag the issue of gender equality of Muslim women vis-a-vis women in other religions and in Islamic countries, the AIMPLB asked it to bring a law taking recourse to Article 25 (2)(b) of the Constitution that permits enactment of law invoking social reforms.

However, AIMPLB had cautioned the constitution bench that "testing the validity of customs and practices was a slippery slope".AIMPLB had cautioned the constitution bench that "testing the validity of customs and practices was a slippery slope".

In the course of the hearing, the AIMPLB issued an advisory to telling the qazis to give an option to Muslim women to opt out of instant triple talaq before giving consent for ’nikah’.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), had equated the issue of ’triple talaq’ with the belief that Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya and these were matters of faith which cannot be tested on grounds of constitutional morality.AIMPLB), had equated the issue of ’triple talaq’ with the belief that Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya and these were matters of faith which cannot be tested on grounds of constitutional morality.

Courtesy: Zeenews