The Ministry of Minority Affairs announced on Saturday that “Muslim Women Rights Day” will be observed across the nation on August 1 to celebrate the enactment of the triple talaq law. Abbas Naqvi, Minister of Minority Affairs, said that there has been a significant decline in triple talaq cases after the law against the practice came into effect and Muslim women across the country have overwhelmingly welcomed the legislation.
Naqvi, along with Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav attended the “Muslim Women Rights Day” programme and interacted with several Muslim women, who were triple talaq “victims”, an official statement said.
Here’s all about the legislation as it completes 2 years.
What is the Triple Talaq law?
The Triple Talaq law, enforced by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on August 1, 2019, classified giving ‘instant divorce’ by Muslim men to their wives as a criminal offence.
The law prescribes a three-year jail term for a man divorcing his wife through triple talaq. Arrests can be made without a warrant, and bail is given only at the discretion of a magistrate.
“Triple talaq“, or talqa-e-biddah as its known among Muslim communities, is a practice which gives a man the right to divorce his wife by uttering ‘talaq’ three times in one sitting, in any form including email or text message, without his wife’s consent.
How was the law passed?
The Supreme Court of India struck down the practice of instant triple talaq in August 2017, following a petition filed by Shayara Bano, who was divorced through the instant triple talaq. The Union of India and the women rights organizations like Bebaak Collective and Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) supported Bano’s plea that these practices are unconstitutional.
However, the then-Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that it was still being practiced.
“The judgement has come, but no action on triple talaq has been taken. That is why we have brought this law, because the law is a deterrence,” he said.
The bill was first tabled in 2017 but stalled in the upper house of parliament, where some MPs called it unfair.
What are the controversies around the Triple Talaq law?
While several Muslim & women group protested the triple talaq, some also said that the law has “not been thought through” and that it would make it easier to jail Muslim men. A section of Muslim women had also condemned the criminalisation of instant triple talaq and said that they did not need to be saved or rescued by the BJP government.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin also expressed his opposition to the criminalization of triple talaq saying, “this law is against Muslim women & marginalizes them even more. The law forces a woman to stay in a marriage with an imprisoned man who’d verbally & emotionally abused her. It puts the burden of proof on Muslim women & forces her into impoverishment.”
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that the legislation targeted Muslim men, even though the practice of abandoning wives was prevalent in other communities as well. Tharoor, in turn, called for a law that was universally applicable to all those who abandon wives.
Did the law help Muslim women in any way?
One year after the law was passed, Naqvi said in July 2020 that there has been about 82% decline in triple talaq cases since the law against the “social evil” was put in place. Meanwhile, activists allege that not many men were arrested even after filing complaints, and even the few were let out on bail days after their arrest. Reports also allege that there were instances of the law being “misused by a third party”, meaning any member of the wife’s family.
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