By Muslim Mirror News Desk,
The controversial triple divorce bill introduced by the government in Lok Sabha was passed on Thursday in the lower house of Parliament. All amendments to it moved by opposition parties were defeated.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights of Marriage) Bill, 2017, which would be applicable to the entire country except in Jammu and Kashmir, will now go to the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) for passage before it is forwarded to the President for signing it into law.
The legislation has made ‘Talaq-e-Biddat’ or instant triple talaq in any form – spoken, in writing or by electronic means such as email, SMS and WhatsApp – illegal and void.
It has a provision of three-year non-bailable imprisonment to a person who divorces by uttering the word ‘talaq’ thrice in one go. It also gives power to the victim to approach a magistrate seeking “subsistence allowance” for herself and minor children.
A victim can also seek the custody of her minor children from the magistrate.
Take a look at who said what on the proposed law:
Ravi Shankar Prasad: Introducing the proposed legislation in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister for Law and Justice said the legislation meant to ensure gender justice to women is affected by instant divorce.
“This Bill is for women’s rights and justice and not regarding any prayer, ritual or religion. Countries like Eqypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh have regulated triple talaq. The Islamic countries have regulated triple talaq. They have said you can’t say talaq in one sitting. If here the women are facing abuse, we need to take a decision,” said the minister.
He further said, “The bill we have here says that if you utter triple talaq, you will land up in jail. The man will also have to pay maintenance and the custody of the child will be with the mother. This bill should not be viewed from the prism of politics. This bill should not be viewed with any religious motive or vote-bank politics. This bill is for the rights of the women of our country.”
Prasad, who is also IT minister, further added, “I had gone to Patna. I witnessed burqa (veil)-clad women were learning IT. On one side, we are hailing digital India and on the other side there is ‘talaq, talaq, talaq’. Lok Sabha is India’s biggest panchayat. I appeal, firstly, that this bill not be seen as a succession bill. Secondly, don’t tie it under caste aspect, and, thirdly, don’t tie it with religion. Fourthly, don’t view it under vote bank.”
“We are not looking at this from the lens of politics but from the lens of humanity. The jail term is upto three years and quantum of punishment will be decided by the magistrate and we have left it for the court to decide and its conscience. It is being said that we are breaking families, but when women were being abandoned, this argument found no place. Under Section 304B, if you try to burn a bride, then you will be imprisoned,” said Prasad.
MJ Akbar: Speaking on behalf of the government, the minister of state (MoS) for external affairs called into question the credibility of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) for opposing the move. He asked, “Who made them community representatives?”
Interestingly, the journalist-turned politician who is also one of the BJP’s Muslim faces spoke at length during the discussion on the bill. He spoke about the AIMPLB, “bankruptcy” of Muslim ulemas (went on to call them jahil), spoke on shariah and how Muslims misunderstand the holy Quran. He also commented on Nehru and Shah Bano case. But he did not utter a single word on the provisions of the triple talaq bill.
Asaduddin Owaisi: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi told the Lok Sabha that more than a law against instant triple talaq, a legislation against husbands abandoning their wives was required.
“…make a law wherein 20 lakh women who are abondoned by married people and who do not belong to the Muslim community, also includes our bhabhi in Gujarat, should be given justice,” he said in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wife while strongly opposing introduction of the proposed law.
Speaking after Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tabled the Bill, Owaisi said it violated the fundamental rights and lacked “basic legal coherence”.
Maintaining that not enough consultation was done on the bill, he said, “This will be injustice to Muslim women.”
He also questioned the need to formulate a new law for this because an existing law on domestic violence tackled the matter.
“There is absence of consistency with the existing legal framework. The bill says the husband will be sent to jail, and it also says he will have to pay allowance. How can a person in jail pay allowance,” he said, referring to the provision that a woman given triple talaq will have the right to seek maintenance.
Mallikarjun Kharge: The leader of Congress party in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Send the bill to the standing committee. All party people will be present there. Give some time, an elaborate consultation of the bill needs to take place. All of us are supporting this Bill, but there are certain lacunae which should and can be rectified in the standing committee, we can sit together and sort out in a time bound manner.”
Brinda Karat: The CPI(M) Politburo member criticised the government for attempting to push the triple talaq bill without any discussions with the concerned parties.
“The Bill itself is very objectionable, and equally objectionable are the efforts of the BJP to push it through Parliament without any consultation or discussion with those in whose names the Bill has been passed,” she said.
Muslim women and women’s organisations have never been consulted on this issue, she said, labelling it “totally wrong”.
The Left leader pointed out that the issue of divorce is a civil dispute. “Instead of looking at civil remedies, the government is trying to look at criminal remedies,” she said.
“The Bill itself has many problems which the government needs to look at. There are problems with this Bill which require further discussions. For one, divorce is not a crime in this country … so, therefore, if you want to bring it under criminal law, there are many implications of this which requires discussions.”
Bhartruhari Mahtab: The Biju Janata Dal MP said this bill is flawed, there are many internal contradictions in the Bill.
Samajwadi Party: The bill will only make Hindu fanatics happy.
Indira Jaising: The former solicitor general termed the passage of the Bill a “shameful display of brute force”. “The Bill is aimed at turning Muslim husbands into criminals. This is not what we fought for in the Supreme Court of India,” said the senior Supreme Court lawyer.
Dr Faizan Mustafa: Calling the proposed legislation a case of “over criminalisation”, the vice chancellor of Hyderabad-based Nalsar University of Law said, “I don’t think that there is an evil after the Supreme Court has set aside the instant triple divorce. We should not be using over criminal law. It should be used as a last resort. The Bill is not really going to help Muslim women because a husband on return from jail, if he is sent behind bars, he will give the valid form of divorce. So, we are doing something which is not really going to help our women.”
He further said that the AIMPLB “should have long back reached a consensus on the issue” to avoid such a situation.
Maulana Khalil-ur-Rehman Sajjad Nomani: The AIMPLB spokesperson expressed serious reservations over the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 adding that the board will take steps through democratic means to “amend, improve or scrap” it.
“We will take whatever steps required through democratic means to amend, improve or scrap it. There is no move to go to court as of now…. The bill was brought in a haste,” he said.
The board, he added, should have been taken into confidence on the issue. “Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad while tabling the bill also quoted the board and a lady MP of the ruling party tried to answer the queries raised by the Board in a letter to the prime minister proving that the government recognises the board. So, the board should have been taken into confidence,” Nomani said.
Zafaryab Jilani: The AIMPLB member hinted that the board may approach the Supreme Court against the triple talaq bill once it is passed by the Parliament.
“An option is always open to challenge the law passed (by the Parliament), which is against the Supreme Court’s judgement and the Indian Constitution, in the Supreme Court. Convenor of our legal committee has also suggested that it can be challenged in the court. However, we will decide our future course of action once the Bill is passed and law is enacted,” Jilani told a news channel.
The AIMPLB wanted that the triple talaq bill should not be in conflict with either the Constitution, the Supreme Court order or Muslim personal law board, he said. “We had demanded that Bill should have been prepared only after consultation of representatives of Muslim women organisations, All India Muslim Personal Board, but it doesn’t mean that we were against the Bill. We just wanted that Bill should not be in conflict with either Constitution of India, Supreme Court Judgement or Muslim Personal Law Board,” he said.
Shaista Amber: The president of the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) welcomed the tabling of the Bill but insisted that it should be in the light of the Holy Quran.
“We welcome the tabling of the Bill and this has given lots of hope to the women as triple talaq is an evil which has been haunting them,” she said.
Amber, however, added that any law enacted in this regard should be in the light of the Quran and Constitution to make it acceptable to the community.
Navaid Hamid: The president of the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat (AIMMM), an umbrella body of the Muslim bodies in the country, termed the governent’s promptness to bring the Bill as an attempt to hide its “failures”.
“The move is nothing but an intrusion in the freedom of religion. The spirit of the proposed Bill is not only against the Constitution but the judgement of the Supreme Court on triple talaq. The Bill wishes to ban all forms of talaq,” he said.
Asked why the AIMPLB failed to develop consensus on the matter, he said that the board “represents a particular school of thought (hanafi) that dominates in India and subcontinent and where instant triple talaq is valid”.
Wasim Rizvi: The president of the Shia Waqf Board said that he had sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making the punishment to those indulging in the practice more stringent. “I have urged the Prime Minister through a letter that a jail term of 10 years to those indulging in triple talaq and lodging a criminal case against them,” Rizvi said.