Government to oppose triple talaq citing women’s rights

The Law Ministry will file a consolidated reply on the issue in the apex court by the end of this month. The issue is being deliberated upon at inter-ministerial level which includes ministries of Home, Finance and Women and Child Development apart from the Law ministry. 

“We shouldn’t approach it from (the prism of) uniform civil code. A woman’s rights are inalienable and according to the Constitution she has to have the same rights as men. The practice of triple talaq doesn’t exist even in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Only we have it,” the senior functionary said. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi met last week to deliberate on government’s possible stand to be taken in the Supreme Court on the issue of Muslim practices of polygamy, triple talaq (talaq-e-bidat) and ‘nikah halala’ (a practice where divorced women, in case they want to go back to their husbands, have to consummate a second marriage).