Government considering law in winter session to end triple talaq

A ministerial committee has been set up to propose a suitable legislation or amend existing penal provisions, which would make instantaneous triple talaq an offence, government functionaries said on Tuesday.

As the law stands today, a victim of ‘talaq-e-biddat’ or instant triple talaq would have no option but to approach the police for redressal of her grievance as a Muslim clergy would be of no assistance to her. Even police are helpless as no action can be taken against the husband in the absence of punitive provisions in the law, they explained.

The ministerial committee has been constituted to frame a new law or an amendment bill, and the government plans to bring this legislation in the winter session of Parliament, the functionaries said.

In August, the Supreme Court struck down the controversial Islamic practice of instant divorce or ‘talaq- e-biddat’ as arbitrary and unconstitutional. But there have been reports of a number of divorces by way of ‘talaq-e-biddat’ even after the judgement, the functionaries said. This could be because of lack of awareness and the absence of deterrent punishment, they said.

Despite advisories being issued to the members of the community against the archaic practice, there seemed to be no decline in the cases of divorce by ‘talaq-e-biddat’, they claimed.

Soon after the SC judgement, the government said that a law on triple talaq might not be necessary as the order was now the law of the land. They felt that the provisions of the Indian Penal Code were sufficient to deal with cases when aggrieved women approached police.

In a recent case of ‘talaq-e-biddat’, a man working with a leading educational institution divorced his wife through WhatsApp and SMS, the functionaries said quoting media reports.