NEW DELHI: The centre has started collecting data on the incidents of Nikah Halala and polygamy--Muslim practices whose validity has been challenged in the Supreme Court.
While the government has given indications of opposing the two practices, it is yet to present its official position before the court and statistics regarding the prevalence of these practices will help in strengthening its stance against the two practices, sources said.
Official sources added that the government is also studying the prevalence of these practices in other countries in order to understand the relevance of these practices among the Muslim society worldwide.
While polygamy allows a Muslim man to have four wives, 'nikah halala' is a controversial practice which forbids a divorced couple from remarrying until the woman marries someone else, consummates her new marriage and gets divorced or widowed.
The PILs challenging the validity of the two practices is likely to be heard next month by the Supreme Court.In that hearing, the government is likely to point out that many countries, including those that have large Muslim population, have undertaken reforms and regulated polygamy and divorce laws.
Sources in the know of the matter said that the government is preparing a list of countries which have either banned polygamy or have regulated the controversial practice to avoid its misuse.
Afghanistan, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, Indonesia, Iran and even neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are some of the countries where polygamy has either been banned or regulated by the law, sources said.
Pertinently, the government had carried out a similar exercise even when it strongly opposed in court the practice of instant triple talaq which was eventually banned by the Supreme Court as violative of women's right to equality under the Constitution.
In March this year, a three-judge Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had issued notices to the union government and the attorney general on a petition filed by Delhi-based woman, Sameena Begum, who alleged that she was subjected to cruelty in her marriage over dowry and eventually dumped by the first husband.
She claimed that her second husband, a married man, divorced her illegally through triple talaq. Besides Sameena, several others have also approached the court challenging the validity of these practices.