2019 – Posted in: Daily News

TRIPLE TALAQ BILL

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topic cover: Highlights and features of the bill, its clauses, importance for Muslim women

News Flash

Union Cabinet prepares to introduce a fresh Bill to ban the practice of instant triple talaq.

Earlier, the Supreme Court has banned instant triple talaq, not triple talaq. The instant version Talaq has been declared unconstitutional.

Do only men divorce in Islam?

No, the women have the option of asking for ‘khula’ in case the marriage breaks down.

A woman can divorce her husband by returning the dower (mehr) that she received from her husband.

Triple Talaq

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018

The Bill makes all declaration of talaq, including in written or electronic form, to be void (i.e. not enforceable in law) and illegal. It defines talaq as talaq-e-biddat or any other similar form of talaq pronounced by a Muslim man resulting in instant and irrevocable divorce.

This Bill also makes the pronouncement of talaq-e-biddat a non-bailable offence.

Talaq-e-biddat refers to the practice under Muslim personal laws where pronouncement of the word ‘talaq’ thrice in one sitting by a Muslim man to his wife results in an instant and irrevocable divorce.

Clause 3 of the Bill, “Any pronouncement of talaq by a person upon his wife, by words, either spoken or written or in electronic form or in any other manner whatsoever, shall be void and illegal.”

Clause 4 of the Bill states, “Whoever pronounces talaq referred to in section 3 upon his wife shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and fine.”

Clauses 5 and 6 of the Bill say, ” a married Muslim woman upon whom talaq is pronounced, shall be entitled to receive from her husband such amount of subsistence allowance for her and dependent children,” and “shall be entitled to custody of her minor children in the event of pronouncement of talaq by her husband.”

Clause 7 says, “an offence punishable under this Act shall be cognizable and non-bailable within the meaning of the Code.” (The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973)

Offence and Penalty

The Bill makes a declaration of talaq a cognizable (a police officer may arrest an accused person without a warrant) offence, with fine and up to 3 years of imprisonment.

The Bill provides that the Magistrate may grant bail to the accused.
The offence may be compounded by the Magistrate upon the request of the woman.

Custody

A Muslim woman against whom such talaq has been declared is entitled to seek custody of her minor children. The manner of custody will be determined by the Magistrate.

Allowance

A Muslim woman against whom talaq has been declared is entitled to seek subsistence allowance from her husband for herself and for her dependent children. The amount of the allowance will be determined by the Magistrate.

Source: The Hindu, India Today

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