Anti-Triple Talaq bill had been passed by the Lok Sabha in the monsoon session but was stalled in the Rajya Sabha, ordinance expected to trigger fresh protests

The Narendra Modi government, which failed to ensure passage of a Bill to criminalise Instant Triple Talaq in Parliament during the monsoon session, on Wednesday, September 19, took the Ordinance route to make talaq-e-biddat – three consecutive talaq pronouncements by Muslim husbands – a punishable offence.

The Ordinance has been sent to President Ram Nath Kovind for his assent.

The contentious Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, had been passed by the Lok Sabha in December 2017 but could not be taken up for discussion and passage in Rajya Sabha during the monsoon session that ended in August.

The Congress-led Opposition had maintained that though it wanted deterrent legislative measures against Instant Triple talaq, which had been outlawed by the Supreme Court through a historic verdict last year, it was opposed to the proposed legislation drafted by the Centre and wanted it to be referred to a Parliamentary committee for further scrutiny.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP had accused the Opposition, particularly the Congress, of deliberately stalling the passage of the Bill in Parliament to serve their vested political interests by appeasing radical Muslims and Islamic organisations which have been opposed to criminalising talaq-e-biddat.

The Centre had, in an attempt to evolve a political consensus on the Bill, made three amendments to the first draft of the law that had been passed by the Lok Sabha. While the original draft allowed any individual to file a case against a Muslim man and his family members on the accusation of instant triple talaq, the amended Bill moved for passage in the Rajya Sabha during the monsoon session stated that only the affected Muslim wife or her blood relatives could file such a case.

Other amendments to the draft bill allowed a magistrate to grant bail to the Muslim husband after hearing the wife and made the offence of instant triple talaq “compoundable”, reported India Legal.

While immediate reactions to the ordinance from Opposition parties and Islamic organisations like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board are yet to come in, sources in the Congress party and the AIMPLB told India Legal that they would continue to oppose the stringent provisions envisaged in the ordinance.

A senior Congress leader told India Legal that the party’s stand on the draft bill, now an ordinance, remains the same – there should be a provision for maintenance for the victimised wife and other safeguards to prevent further harassment of the wife as well as providing enough room for reconciliation between the couple.

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