Cabinet approves bill making instant triple talaq criminal act

The Union Cabinet on Friday approved the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, outlawing instant triple talaq by making it a cognisable and non-bailable offence, which will now attract a jail term of three years.

The Bill was prepared by an inter-ministerial committee comprising of chairperson home minister Rajnath Singh, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, finance minister Arun Jaitley, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and minister of state in the law ministry PP Chaudhary.

The Supreme Court had in August, declared the practice of instant triple talaq as unconstitutional. In a five member-bench, while three judges termed the practice illegal and unconstitutional, two judges wanted to ban the practice for a period of six months till the time the government came up with a new legislation.

AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi said that the government should explain how the law proposes to enforce imprisonment and provide maintenance at the same time. In a letter of protest, Owaisi said, "It is regrettable that a constitutional value as important as gender justice is being used to merely further cynical political goals."