INTRODUCTION
Several civil society members and organizations on Tuesday i.e. 30th July 2019 condemned the passage of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, in Parliament.
The Rajya Sabha on 30th July 2019 passed the Bill with 99 votes in favour and 84 in against. It was passed in the Lok Sabha on July 25th and now awaits presidential assent.
The Bill makes the practice of instant triple talaq a penal offence. Triple talaq allows Muslim men to divorce their wives by uttering the word “talaq” thrice in spoken or written forms, or via electronic communication.
The penalty of the offence
- Firstly, Imprisonment up to 3 years for the offence, and
- Secondly, Provides for subsistence allowance to married Muslim women and their children.
However, the members of civil society are not supportive of the passed Bill. They called the Bill a “complete charade” and said they would petition President Ram Nath Kovind urging him not to sign it into law.
The statement claimed that the Government was pretending to save Muslim women even as Muslims were being lynched daily. “After the Supreme Court in 2017 already made the pronouncement of talaq in a single setting void in law, it is an absurdity to make a person uttering it criminally liable, facing 3 years of imprisonment,” the statement read.
These members of civil society said the Bill does not really care about justice for Muslim women. Because imprisoning the husband for three years leaves the woman at the mercy of her matrimonial family. The main loophole in Bill is that it doesn’t provide for the financial security of the woman and her children. Even “triple talaq’ makes the divorce as void and punishes the men, but after that, there is no one to take care of the children.
In August 2017, the Supreme Court had struck down instant triple talaq. And calling the Islamic practice unconstitutional and in violation of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution. And Article 14 provides for equality before the law. The Centre then brought a Bill, which the Lok Sabha passed multiple times but kept getting stuck in the Rajya Sabha. However, the Government kept promulgating ordinances to the effect.