New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine the validity of the newly enacted law against triple talaq.
A bench of justices NV Ramana and Ajay Rastogi issued a notice to the Centre on a batch of petitions which has sought to declare the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019 as “unconstitutional” on grounds that it allegedly violates the provisions of the Constitution, news agency PTI reported.
The new law makes the practice of instant divorce through triple talaq among Muslims a punishable offence entailing imprisonment of up to three years.
The petitions against the law were filed in the Supreme Court a day after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the legislation after its passage by both houses of Parliament.
“We have a doubt if a religious practice is declared void and it is still going on, is it not an offence like dowry. We will examine this,” the bench told senior advocate Salman Khurshid, who was appearing for one of the petitioners.
Khurshid, also a senior Congress leader, told the bench that there were many dimensions, including making the practice a punishable offence and jail term of up to three years, which was required to be examined by the top court.
