HYDERABAD: A day after Hyderabad-based woman Ghousia Begum wrote to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj seeking her help in ensuring compensation from her Omani husband who pronounced triple talaq over the phone, activists from the city have raised concerns on the issue. City-based women’s rights activist Jameela Nishat said, “Shah Jahan’s case was similar to Ghousia’s. There were many players who assured her hope for justice when the Supreme Court banned the practice of talaq-e-biddat. But now, she is hopeless as her elderly husband, a Gulf national, passed away last month. Now, Ghousia will suffer the same plight, as compensation or justice is not for her as her husband is an Omani.”
“In fact, the law is faulty in principle as it doesn’t have a clause for reconciliation between petitioning husband and wife. Talaq-e-biddat is a malpractice but not a crime. Lawmakers need to realise this,” Nishat elaborated.Activist Ilyas Shamshi said the law criminalising talaq-e-biddat would be a welcome move but will it provide a solution to the problem of corrupt qazis who make money by aiding Muslim men who pronounce talaq to their wives without due procedure.
However, he said, “I am concerned about women like Ghousia whose cases do not come in the purview of our country’s law. There are many women like Ghousia who are married to rich Arabs. These are not marriages but mostly cases of trafficking wherein the husband divorces his wife after he is done with his pleasure.” It may be recalled here that the Union cabinet on Dec 14 approved a draft law proposing to declare the practice of instant triple talaq illegal and void.