The Supreme Court’s decision to set up a constitution bench that will decide the legality of triple talaq practice during the upcoming summer vacation signals its resolve to decide an issue with potentially severe socio-political implications without further procrastination.
It has also heightened the sense of anticipation among Muslim women in India who are coming out against the pernicious practice with far greater vehemence than any time in post-independence India’s history, now that the apex court has announced daily sittings between May 11 and May 19 to settle the issue.
The proactive role adopted by the court is a clear indication that it has decided that the challenge to its jurisdiction from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) will not be allowed to stall or delay early resolution of the issue.
The timing is perfect. Modi government has already taken a firm stand that the issue concerns gender justice rather than religious rights of the minority community. The stream of letters coming to the Prime Minister’s Office reveal the monstrous nature of a practice that has no logic, let alone any religious sanctity.
The practice sanctioned by Indian Muslim clergy presently allows a Muslim man to pronounce talaq (divorce) three times in one sitting to literally throw his wife out on the streets.
The fact that it has been banned by nearly two dozen Muslims countries, including Pakistan, controverts the AIMPLB’s claim that the practice is sanctioned by Quran.
In fact reforms in Muslim divorce system started way back in 1929 on the basis of interpretation of Quran by 13th century Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, and were followed by other Muslim majority countries.
According to Taymiyyah, saying ‘talaq talaq talaq’ in one go accounts for one of the three steps in the process and there must be a 90-day waiting period after the first step during which serious efforts for a reconciliation must be made.
According to the Tunisian Code of Personal Status, 1956, a husband cannot unilaterally divorce his wife verbally without consulting a judge and without explaining the reason for it. The Code also makes both husband and wife to compensate, if the judge feels a party has been harmed by the other.
In Pakistan, the Muslim Family Law Ordinance of 1961 stipulates that the husband must give a notice to the Chairman of Union Council (a government body on these matters) about his wish for a divorce. After 30 days, the council would try reconciliation through the Arbitration Council and its efforts would continue for the entire waiting period of 90 days before allowing a divorce.
The institution of the marriage in Muslim countries, thus, falls squarely within the ambit of state and judiciary. It is only in India that a Muslim husband can get away by getting rid of his wife with the three fatal words in the same breadth. And he doesn’t have to do it face to face with his wife. He can do so over the telephone or use social media tools such as WhatsApp and Facebook.
Studies have revealed that 95 per cent of Muslim women who fell victim to the increasing use of such instant divorces receive no maintenance from their estranged husband. The recent case of a pregnant woman being thrown out of the house for refusing an abortion underlines the sheer brutality of the malpractice. The earlier it is abolished the better it will be for the nation.