New Delhi: The contentious Triple Talaq Bill, making instant talaq illegal and void and a punishable offence was passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday. Opposition parties such as Congress and AIADMK, who made a strong plea for the legislation to be send to a joint select committee for a close scrutiny, walked out in protest.
The proposed law makes “triple talaq” an offence with a jail term of up to three years and a fine for the husband. It makes the woman entitled to maintenance.
1. The amended legislation was introduced in the Lok Sabha with three changes. Under these, only a woman, or her close relative, can file a police case against her husband. A second amendment allows her to drop the case if the couple reaches a compromise. A third says the magistrate can decide on the husband’s bail only after hearing the wife.
2. The Government, however, refused to do away with the provision of jail term for husband. The magistrate is only empowered to release him.
3. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had voiced his objections to instant talaq, making it a poll plank. Political observers feel his stand polarised the women voters towards BJP during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
4. The Bill was passed after a five-hour long debate in the Lower House of Parliament. In all, out of the 256 Members present in the House, 245 voted in favour of the Bill and 11 against it.
5. Introducing the Bill, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the legislation should not be seen through the prism of politics. He said as many as 477 cases of triple talaq have been reported since January 2017 and cited a case where a professor gave talaq to his wife over Whatsapp.
6. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge demanded that since its a very important bill which needs detailed study and it is also a constitutional matter, the bill be sent to joint select committee of the two Houses. AIADMK leader P Venugopal, TMC’s Sudip Bandhopadhyay, AIMIM’s Assaduddin Owaisi and Supriya Sule (NCP) also made similar demands.
7. The BJD also opposed the legislation.
8. In September, the government made instant “triple talaq” punishable through an ordinance or executive order. The proposed law will replace the ordinance.
9. The Supreme Court had in August last year found the practice of “triple talaq” un-Islamic and “arbitrary”, and disagreed that it was an integral part of religious practices. It had asked the government to bring legislation in six months to govern marriage and divorce in the Muslim community.
10. The fresh bill will supersede an earlier bill passed in the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha.
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