Backing its 2019 law against triple talaq, the Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that the practice is “fatal” to the institution of marriage.
The Centre said the top court's setting aside of the practice in 2017 had "not worked as a sufficient deterrent in bringing down the number of divorces by this practice" among members of Muslim communities.
"Victims of 'triple talaq' have no option but to approach the police... and the police were helpless as no action could be taken against husbands in the absence of punitive provisions in the law. In order to prevent (this) there was an urgent need for stringent (legal) provisions," the government said.
The apex court had declared instant triple talaq as “void, illegal and unconstitutional”. The Centre then implemented a law in 2019 criminalising the instant divorce practice with a maximum of three years of imprisonment and a fine.
The Centre emphasised the need for stringent provisions in the law, which act as a deterrent to Muslim husbands divorcing their wives by adopting instantaneous and irrevocable talaq. "The practice of talaq-e-biddat was held unconstitutional and a need was felt to have a standalone legislation to address the same. In the Shayara Bano case, the Supreme Court had expressly noted that triple talaq could not be justified with reference to the tenets of Islam," stated the affidavit.
The Centre was replying to an affidavit filed earlier this month in response to a plea by the Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, which sought a declaration that the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, is unconstitutional and violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, and 123 of the Constitution. According to petitioners, the Act violates fundamental rights, including those that guarantee Indian citizens equality before law and prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.
According to the Centre, Parliament passed the law to protect married Muslim women from being divorced through triple talaq.
“The impugned Act helps in ensuring the larger constitutional goals of gender justice and gender equality of married Muslim women and helps subserve their fundamental rights of non-discrimination and empowerment,” the Centre said in its affidavit.
Currently a Muslim woman, who has been subjected to triple talaq, can seek a subsistence allowance from her husband for herself and her dependent children. Additionally, she can seek custody of her minor children.
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