BENGALURU: A social worker and RTI activist has moved the Karnataka High Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act which abolished triple talaq.
Contending that the Act is a violation of Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25 of the Constitution, the petitioner Mohammed Arif Jameel, a resident of Pillanna Garden, asked the court to strike down the Act.
After hearing the petition, the division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Mohammad Nawaz granted four weeks’ time to the Union government to file objections.
The petitioner contended that the intent behind the Act was not abolition of triple talaq but punishment of Muslim husbands.
Section 4 the Act imposes a maximum sentence of 3 years imprisonment when a Muslim husband pronounces triple talaq. The offence is cognizable and non-bailable as per Section 7 of The Act, he said. The Act has introduced penal legislation, specific to a class of persons based on religious identity. It is causative of grave public mischief, which if unchecked, may lead to polarisation and disharmony in society, the petitioner claimed.