Dear Heena, Triple Talaq is history! Letter from one sister to another

'Koi kaise bataye ki wo tanha kyun hai...,' the soulful, timeless ghazal by late Jagjit Singh was my cue that its 'Heena' time.

The popular TV serial of late 90s, 'Heena' starring beautiful, teary-eyed Simone Singh told us how 'modern' Muslim women were still subject to medieval practice of Triple Talaq.

Though many years have gone by since 'Heena' disappeared from small screen, reality is that very little has changed.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court by a 3-2 verdict may have deemed Triple Talaq unconstitutional, but there is long road ahead.

First, its about revolution within the community. As the news came in, we saw All India Muslim Personal Law Board saying they would hold a meet and then talk about it, Deoband and other hardline factions decrying the verdict saying that this is against Sharia and tenets of Islam.

Well, if that's the case, then what about Jordan, Syria, Iran and our neighbour Pakistan? These are pre-dominantly Muslim nations and I see no reason why they would ban a practice if that's against Sharia.

Second, political will: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown immense courage to go against this draconian practice. From Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections to the Independence Day speech, PM Modi has talked about Triple Talaq and made no bones about how he would like to abolish this practice. Being a vocal detractor of Triple Talaq, PM Modi may actually have got a new vote bank in form of Muslim women and hopefully men too.

This is not 1986 and PM Modi is NOT Rajiv Gandhi. He won't buckle under pressure. In fact, other parties, irrespective of their political ideologies, must come together and let Parliament pass a law to ensure protection of rights of Muslim women.

Third, its about time. We abolished 'Sati', we introduced widow remarriage and we made sure that women have right in paternal property. What stops us from saying no to Triple Talaq. An IndiaSpend report says within religions, highest imbalance of separated women-to-men ratio is among Muslims. That mean for every divorced Muslim man, there are four divorced Muslim women.

There are reams and reams of data that will talk about how Muslim women are suffering form this practice. But in a simple term, this is simply not acceptable. Also, what would be interesting to see how administration deals with this verdict. What will the police, the state government and other local bodies help a man divorces his wife by Triple Talaq. Implementing the judgment and helping the women would be an immense challenge.

Fourth: Uniform Civil Code is the final answer. In the controversial Shah Bano case, the then chief justice of India, YV Chandrachud while reading out the judgment had said; " This is the moral edict of the law and morality cannot be clubbed with religion.''

The words hold significance even now. We can't view the society form the prism of religion anymore. True secular society means that law of the land is above everything and applies to all. It's time that Indian politics breaks the shackles of appeasement mindset and look for one common law.

This might be asking for moon, but I wish if in near future, if someone, somewhere says Talaq, Talaq, Talaq it should refer to the 1982 Bollywood super hit Nikaah's original title and not a way to leave one's wife.