TRIPLE TALAQ: BATTLE FOR ITS EXTINCTION IN INDIA

Source – morungexpress.com

India’s supreme Court May soon take one of its most interesting and far reaching court decisions, one that could go down as pivotal in Indian history. At stake is the TRIPLE TALAQ_ a Muslim practice in which a Muslim man can legally divorce his wife almost instantaneously by uttering the Arabic word for divorce, ‘TALAQ’. Three times in a row. Many traditional Islamic interpretations of Muslim law, especially in South Asia, allege it to be legal. With some scholars deriving arguments in favor of this practice … Contain in part from verse 229 of Sarah 2 of the Quran which states; “Divorce is twice; then keep her honourably or release her virtuously.”

There are numerous alternative understanding of divorce within Islam that do not support the notion of triple talaq and it is banned or not practiced. In Many Muslim majority countries including Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia, Malaysia, Iran and Pakistan. Interestingly, the Wahhabi movement has also been opposed to the practice.

However, in India Muslim personal law is governed independently, and there is no single civil law code for all of India’s citizens. The body that regulates Indian Sunni Muslim Law ( Shias have a separate body) is the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). Which has strenuously resisted any attempt to modernize Muslim Personal law. Any attempt to change Indian Muslim Personal law has been met With claims by Muslim religious leaders that they constituted assault upon the rights and freedoms of the Muslim minority.

THE GROUNDS TO BAN TRIPLE TALAQ:

Over the past seven years, the BHARATIYA MUSLIM MAHILA ANDOLAN (BMMA) has been working with hundreds of women who have been suffering as a result of unilateral divorce. What makes the conditions of the women worse are sanction from religious seminaries. Daral Uloom Deobo and one such revered seminary has often validated divorce given by a husband on the phone, by written communication, and also where a husband repeats the word “Talaq” thrice even in the absence of his wife . According to the findings of BMMA study, more than 90 percent of the 4,710 women interviewed wanted a ban on unilateral divorce. It has-been argued that triple talaq creates a power dynamic in a marriage which is greatly in favor of the men and oppressive to the women. For too long the Muslim community in India has been dominated by diktat from the clergy. And this happened because the country’s political leadership progressively ceded space to Muslim Orthodoxy in the hope of reaping Political dividends. This in turn has marginalised modern Muslim voices and relegated Muslim women to second class status.

The BHARATIYA MUSLIM MAHILA  ANDOLAN (BMMA) takes the lead:

The BMMA is an Indian Islamic feminist organization which brings forth the plight of the ordinary Muslim women in India who constantly live under the fear of being unilaterally divorced by their husbands. More than 50,000 Indian Muslim women and men have signed a petition demanding a total ban on “Un- Quranic” practice of the unilateral TRIPLE TALAQ and “NIKAH- HALAK .”

SUPREME COURT AND CIVIL CODE:

Supreme Court of India has announced that it will review the country’s personal law code for Muslims,in what it says is an attempt to rectify any biases against women.

The ruling party has long been an advocate of Common Civil Code and the Supreme Court has expressed itself in favour of it on several occasions. In 2014, the BJP had made uniform civil code on Poll plan but backed off, thanks to the compulsion of politics.

Amid the raging debate on uniform civil code, the BJP government had made it clear that it will not be brought through the backdoor and without a general agreement. The Supreme Court and now the government are acting on the principle that the Constitution prohibits any kind of discrimination on grounds of religion.

GOVERNMENT STAND:

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi Publicly opposed the practice of Triple Talaq in the Muslim community, it was indeed a significant remark in the political history of India. At Mahaparivartan rally in Bundelkhand, Modi asserted that government had a responsibility to protect the constitutional rights of Muslim women from practices that degrade their status in the society. His statement comes after government’s recent opposition to TRIPLE TALAQ and POLYGAMY. It welcome that has based its position on constitutional principles such as gender equality, no matter how intrinsically linked to traditions, can’t override the Supreme Constitution of the country. Muslim women have become more vocal in recent times against the practice of Triple Talaq and polygamy and now the government has weighed in on their side.

Its arguments in the Supreme Court that these are unreasonable and discriminatory, and deny gender justice enshrined in the Constitution are likely to figure in the Law commission report on a Uniform Civil Code for all Indians. Though the report is to be submitted only in 2018, the government’s stand will strengthen the case against these practices that have worked against Muslim women, especially those who are poor and marginalised.

CONCLUSION:
Triple Talaq had been banned is more than 20 Muslim majority countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh while Polygamy was prohibited in Turkey and Turkmenistan among other countries. Indian Muslim makes up more than 14 percent of the country’s 1.25 billion population, yet they are among some of the most marginalised communities. Social indicator amongst Muslim women such as literacy, mortality and employment rates are lower than the national average. Triple Talaq is unilateral , arbitrary and contravenes both the Constitution and the principles of gender justice in Islam .In a secular and Democratic country like India, religious law’s could not overwrite the constitutional Right to Equality.

“If reform had come from within communities,it would have been easier to evolve a Civil code.” Subhashis Mittra.