equates it with rape(EDs: Incorporating Shia Waqf board's latest reax)By Arunav SinhaLucknow, Dec 29 (PTI) Mohsin Raza, lone Muslim face inthe Uttar Pradesh cabinet, today slammed those supportingtriple talaq, arguing that if uttering the word 'nikaah'thrice does not solemnise a marriage, how can saying 'talaq'three times result in divorce.
"My simple question is if saying talaq-talaq-talaqresults in divorce, then saying nikaah-nikaah-nikaah shouldmean that the wedding has been solemnised," the Waqf and Hajminister said a day after the Lok Sabha passed the MuslimWomen (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill by voice vote.
"No where it is written that saying talaq thrice willresult in divorce. Do you think that by saying roza-roza-roza,my roza will be complete? Roza is a process, which has to becompleted. Haj is a process, which has to be undertaken. Justsaying Haj-Haj-Haj will not suffice. Similarly, talaq is aprocess," he told PTI in an interview.
Meanwhile, sharpening its stand against triple talaq, theShia Waqf Board today demanded that those giving triple talaqshould be tried for rape.
"Pushing women to a dark future by resorting to tripletalaq is 'saazishan kiyaa huaa balatkaar' (rape byconspiracy). Hence, a case for committing rape should beregistered against those giving triple talaq," Wasim Rizvi,chairman of Shia Waqf Board, said in a statement here.
Condemning the All India Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB), Raza said the body has made a mockery of things andwants to fulfil its vested interests.
Mounting attack on the opposition to the bill, theminister said, "Opposition should first say on what basis theAIMPLB should have been made a stakeholder while finalisingthe draft of the bill. The board is simply an NGO. There aremany organisations working for social welfare and the AIMPLBis one of them".
Raza also said the AIMPLB was neither 'Shariat' nor theConstitution of India.
"As far as the opposition parties are concerned, they arealways eager to take undue advantage of casteist and communalsentiments. They point fingers at us and accuse the BJP ofbeing a communal party. In fact, the remote control of AIMPLBis in the hands of the opposition parties, who have beenbaffled (by the talaq bill)," the UP minister said.
On whether the provisions of the bill were tantamount toinfringement on rights of Muslim men, Raza said, "The rightsof women had been grossly violated. Unlike the AIMPLB, the BJPis of the view of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' and we stand forstrengthening Muslim women.
"Muslim women have been dominated for ages by Muslim men.
If the AIMPLB was so much concerned for the Muslim society,why did they in the 1985 Shah Bano case (when the SupremeCourt pronounced a judgement) pressured the then Rajiv Gandhigovernment and the judgement was ultimately reversed. Thisresulted in Muslim women facing hardships since 1980s, and theAIMPLB and Congress are responsible for it," he said.
Hours after the Lok Sabha passed the bill, the AIMPLB hadvoiced serious reservations over its provisions and said itwould take steps through democratic means to "amend, improveor scrap" the bill.
"We will take whatever steps required through democraticmeans to amend, improve or scrap it. There is no move to go tocourt as of now... The bill was brought in a haste," AIMPLBspokesperson Maulana Khalil-ur-Rehman Sajjad Nomani told PTI.
He said the board should have been taken into confidenceon the issue.
However, AIMPLB member Zafaryab Jilani hinted that theboard may approach the Supreme Court against the bill once itis passed by the Parliament.
The AIMPLB wants that the triple talaq bill should not bein conflict with either the Constitution, Supreme Court orderor Muslim Personal Law Board, he said.
The president of the All India Muslim Women Personal LawBoard (AIMWPLB), Shaista Amber welcomed the tabling of thebill but insisted that it should be in light of the Quran andthe constitution to make it acceptable to the community.
"We welcome the tabling of the bill and this has givenhope to the women as triple talaq is an evil which has beenhaunting them," she said.
The Shia Waqf Board, on the other hand, had yesterdaycalled for making the punishment to those indulging in 'tripletalaq' more stringent.
"I have urged the prime minister through a letter seeking10-year jail term to those indulging in triple talaq andlodging a criminal case against them," Shia Waqf Board chiefWasim Rizvi said. PTI NAV SMISRY.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.