‘Instant Talaq not an essential part of Islam’

Representing one of the petitioners in the Triple Talaq case in Supreme Court on Thursday, senior advocate AS Chadha argued that method of instant Talaq is not an essential part of Islam.

NEW DELHI: Representing one of the petitioners in the Triple Talaq case in Supreme Court on Thursday, senior advocate AS Chadha argued that method of instant Talaq is not an essential part of Islam.
He also referred to the practices in the neighbouring Islamic countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh to buttress his plea that Triple Talaq was un-Islamic. The bench then said it would like to peruse the prevalent laws in various Islamic countries on the issue and observed that the Shia school of thought did not allow the practice of Triple Talaq.

“The Triple Talaq is not integral to Islam and hence cannot be protected under Article 25 (fundamental right to practice religion),” Chadha said. Senior advocate Salman Khurshid appearing as an amicus curaie in the case said, “Triple Talaq is a non-issue as it is not considered complete without conciliation effort between husband and wife.” This prompted CJI to ask, “What is the personal law?”

“If a man pronounces Triple Talaq even once and has not revoked it in the next three months divorce did not happen,” Khurshid responded. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for Bebak Collective, a Muslim women organisation, said in case of divorces being granted through extra-judicial mechanism, there should be a judicial oversight to deal with the consequences of such an event.

She said Triple Talaq was violative of the right to equality of Muslim women guaranteed under Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution to the extent that a Muslim man exercised power to declare a unilateral divorce but the Muslim woman had no control over such unilateral, arbitrary, extra judicial divorce and her marital status.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing on behalf of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIPMLB) said, “Its a non-issue, as no prudent Muslim would wake up one fine morning and say “Talaq, Talaq, Talaq”. Either Parliament can enact a law or it should be left to the community. The court should not interfere in the issue.”

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