Instant triple talaq: Govt’s draft law can send husband to jail for 3 years

mangaloretoday News Network

New Deli, Dec 01, 2017 : The government will bring a bill in the winter session of Parliament that will criminalise instant triple talaq, or talaq-e-biddat, and accord rights of maintenance and a child’s custody to the victim of such a divorce, according to a top source in the law ministry.

 

A man attempting to divorce his wife through instant triple talaq in any form — spoken, written or communicated through electronic means like instant messages and emails — can be handed out three years’ imprisonment and a fine, the proposed law states.

The offence will be cognisable and non-bailable.

Talaq-e-biddat is a custom under Muslim personal law that allows a man to divorce his wife by uttering the word “talaq” thrice. Though a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court struck down the practice as illegal in a 3:2 judgement on August 22, it has continued, the source who has been involved in drafting the bill, said.

As the law stands today, a victim of ‘talaq-e-biddat’ or instant triple talaq would have no option but to approach the police for redressal of her grievance as a Muslim clergy would be of no assistance to her.

Even police are helpless as no action can be taken against the husband in the absence of punitive provisions in the law, they explained.

In August, the Supreme Court struck down the controversial Islamic practice of instant divorce or ‘talaq- e-biddat’ as arbitrary and unconstitutional.

But there have been reports of a number of divorces by way of ‘talaq-e-biddat’ even after the judgement, the functionaries said.

Despite advisories being issued to the members of the community against the archaic practice, there seemed to be no decline in the cases of divorce by ‘talaq-e-biddat’, they claimed.

In a recent case of ‘talaq-e-biddat’, a man working with a leading educational institution divorced his wife through .



courtesy:HT