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Triple Talaq verdict: Meet the women behind the triple talaq fight

After reading separate judgements, the 5-judge bench of Supreme Court ruled by 3:2 majority that triple talaq is void and illegal.

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The Supreme Court by a majority verdict today set aside the practice of divorce through triple talaq among Muslims, saying the practice was void, illegal and unconstitutional.

The lead petition in the case is titled "Quest for Equality vs. Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind".

The Muslim women, who had filed the petitions, had challenged the practice of 'triple talaq' in which the husband pronounces 'talaq' thrice, sometimes even by phone or a text message, to get a divorce.

Here are the women behind the triple talaq fight

Shayara Bano

A triple talaq victim, Shayara Bano petitioned the Supreme Court, seeking a ban on the divorce form, polygamy and nikah halala, a practice under which a divorced Muslim woman has to marry again, consummate the marriage and then break it if she wants to go back to her first husband.

Shayara stirred a hornet's nest after she moved the Supreme Court to challenge the triple talaq.

A resident of Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand, she got married to Allahabad-based property dealer, Rizwan Ahmed, in 2002.

A post-graduate in sociology, Bano is a mother of two - a 14-year-old son and an 12-year-old daughter.

Bano had to take a legal course to get triple talaq or talaq-e- bidat declared illegal, after her husband Rizwan Ahmed posted a 'talaqnama' to her.

She had said that she was forcibly given pills by her husband, which severely affected her health.

Ishrat Jahan

A woman named Ishrat Jahan had challenged the Constitutional validity of triple talaq to end a marriage. The mother of four young children, was shocked when her Dubai-based husband telephoned her and uttered talaq thrice.

Being helpless, she moved the Supreme Court against the practice of triple talaq (talaq-e-bidat) under the Muslim Personal Law.

In her petition, Ishrat Jahan sought a declaration from the apex court that Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 was unconstitutional, as it violated fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14 (equality), 15 (non-discrimination), 21 (life) and 25 (religion) of the Constitution.

"My husband and his relatives are constantly attempting to drive me out of my matrimonial home," Ishrat had said.

She also claimed that her four children were also forcibly taken away from her.

 

Farah Faiz

Farah Faiz, now a Supreme Court lawyer, is one of the petitioners in the triple talaq case. She contended in her plea that “talaq-e-bidat (triple talaq) is not a form of divorce recognised in the Quran. 

Faiz runs an NGO Muslim Women’s Quest for Equality in Uttar Pradesh. She is also national president (honorary) of the RSS-associated Rashtrawadi Muslim Mahila Sangh.

"The Holy Quran is in mandatory language. It is not an advise. If we are adopting one procedure for marriage, why can't we have one procedure for talaq also?" she had told the court.

She had also alleged that the Muslim clerics were running a parallel judicial system like the trial courts and the high courts and the clerics were forcing Muslims not to go to the courts.

“Muslim women definitely are secure under Sharia law but what the Personal Law Board is doing (is) giving significance to triple talaq and nikaah halala which are not written in the Quran. The AIMPLB is not even a legal entity, it is just an NGO. They have a misleading name which has for years misguided both the Muslims and the Indian government,” she told SheThePeople.TV.

Gulshan Parveen

Gulshan Parveen of Rampur in UP filed a petition in Supreme Court after her husband sent her a talaqnama. She was married in April 2013.

Her husband had sent the talaqnama on a Rs 10 stamp paper when she was with her parents. However, when she refused to accept it, her husband approached Rampur family court asking for dissolution of marriage based on the talaqnama.

Gulshan had claimed that her husband would often beat with an iron rod.

“I had no say. My husband felt like it one fine day and suddenly both my two-year-old son Ridan and I were homeless,” she told Indian Express.

Afreen Rehman

25-year-old Afreen Rehman, a resident of Jaipur who has been a victim of the 'triple talaq' system, filed a petition with the apex court after receiving a divorce letter through speed post seeking intervention into the matter.

 "I got married in 2014 through a matrimonial portal. After two to three months, my in-laws started mentally harassing me by demanding dowry." she had said narrating her ordeal.

Afreen Rehman had married Syed Ashhar Ali Warsi, a resident of Indore, in August 2014. Their match fixed through wedding portal.

On January 27, 2016, Afreen received the talaqnaama via a speed post.

She also claimed that her in-laws started mentally harassing me, demanding dowry.

“The Muslim Personal Law Board needs to move with the times. I am not opposing them; I just want them to change,” she had told a leading daily.

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