DNA Edit: Empowering women – The first arrest in triple talaq reveals the Act’s importance

For those who had opposed the Triple Talaq Bill, talk to the 30-year-old woman in Delhi’s Azad Market area. She is the first victim of triple talaq in capital Delhi, highlighting the criticality of the Act since it became law in Parliament recentl. recently. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights of Marriage) Bill, 2019, which makes the practice of instant triple talaq a penal offence, had received Rajya Sabha approval on July 30. The 30-year-old woman told police that her husband allegedly gave her triple talaq on June 23. In her complaint, she alleged she had to leave her husband’s home with her six-year-old son the same day. A case has been registered promptly. According to the police, the victim has alleged that her husband pronounced talaq three times and later issued a fatwa against her on WhatsApp. The case is symptomatic of what happens in society today and how seriously safeguards are needed against such deviant behaviour. 

The counsel for the accused argued that there was a matrimonial dispute, which led to the filing of a false complaint, while the public prosecutor for the state argued that the woman was tortured by her husband’s family following which a police complaint was filed on April 1, 2019. Against this one tale that has come to light, there are several others that would never be known. Yet the significance of the Act is clearer today than it has ever been. To that extent, the Modi government needs to be given credit for bringing to the surface a reactionary social practice in the Muslim community. Significantly, this practice is prevalent in India, when it has been banned in all Islamic countries. By any stretch of imagination, it is empowerment of women who are in need. To attribute communal motives to it should be considered equally reactionary.