Government Bans Triple Talaq in India

With political parties refusing to see eye to eye on criminalising triple talaq, the government has now taken the ordinance route. Doubtless, it will have to be ratified by Parliament within 6 months, but by then battle-lines will be clearly drawn with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections imminent. After the Supreme Court in August 2017 ruled talaq-e-biddat as illegal, the NDA government got the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill passed in Lok Sabha last December itself before it hit a wall in Rajya Sabha. Demands were raised like a provision for bail to the accused husband before the start of trial, allowing only the aggrieved wife or a close relative to file the complaint, and making the offence ‘compoundable’ so that the wife can withdraw the complaint or approach a magistrate for dispute settlement. All these points have been incorporated in the ordinance, which makes triple talaq a criminal offence punishable by maximum of 3 years in jail. Along with some other parties, the Congress has asked how a jailed husband can continue to pay maintenance to wife and children; it has also set a poser to the government as to why should not the wife and children be given the right to proceed against the movable and immovable property of the husband. It remains to be seen whether this law with unarguably good social objective stands up to vote-bank pressures when the debate is resumed in Parliament.