After failing to secure Opposition support in the Rajya Sabha, the Centre took the ordinance detour on Wednesday to make instant triple talaq a crime. The government slammed the Congress for indulging in vote bank politics, which in turn accused the Modi government of treating the issue "more as a political football than a matter of justice to Muslim women".
Soon after the Cabinet meeting that approved the ordinance, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad urged the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, BSP supremo Mayawati and All India Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to support the bill. Prasad said that if Congress does not support the ordinance, then Gandhi should not talk of gender justice, dignity and equality.
Alluding to the Opposition's reservations in passing the bill in Rajya Sabha, Prasad said "It's my serious charge, with full sense of responsibility, that a distinguished woman leader is the ultimate leader of the Congress. Yet the barbaric inhuman triple talaq was not allowed to be ended by a Parliamentary law for pure vote bank politics."
The ordinance will have provisions similar to The Muslim Women Protection of Rights in Marriage Act, amended by the Cabinet on August 9, 2018. It had watered down the penal provisions cleared by the Lok Sabha in December 2017. According to law, the ordinance has to be placed before the Parliament and the bill would still need to be passed.
The Supreme Court in January 2017 had held that "re-promulgation of ordinances is a fraud on the constitution" and hence not allowed. It cannot become a "parallel source of legislation".
The issue assumed political hue after BJP chief Amit Shah, during his campaign in Uttar Pradesh elections, threw his weight behind abolition of triple talaq. According to BJP sources, the move paid dividends during polling, netting votes from Muslim women. With passing of the ordinance, they expect a repeat vote of confidence in next year's general elections.
Prominent Muslim bodies, however, have assailed the move, believing that the government was setting the stage for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Triple talaq is recognised by the Sunni sect; the practise does not exit among Shia Muslims. In the community, a cleric, and not the husband, has the authority to annual a marriage.
Explaining the details of the ordinance, Prasad said the core component is that an offence will be cognizable only when the FIR is filed by the victimised wife or her close relations by blood or marriage. "Secondly, it's compoundable," he said. "It can be compromised only at the insistence of the wife upon appropriate terms and conditions as determined by the magistrate. Thirdly, a bail can be granted by the magistrate upon reasonable grounds but only after hearing (out) the victim wife too."
The amended provisions allow the victim wife custody of minor children. She would also be entitled to a maintenance suitably determined by the magistrate for herself and the children. While the bill continues provisions of a three-year prison term, it has left the magistrate to take cognizance and also take recourse to reconciliation. It covers instant triple talaq delivered in any form — orally (including via telephone or a mobile phone), or in writing or through electronic medium such as Watsapp or SMS — illegal.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the government has not acceded to the party's request for making a provisions for attaching the property of those not providing compensation to the affected women and children after divorcing them. Surjewala said Congress had objected that if a man is jailed, how will the women and her children get an allowance.
WHY ORDINANCE AND NOT BILL
- The ruling BJP has fewer numbers in the Rajya Sabha, which affects green-lighting of legislations
- Currently 31 proposed legislations, approved by Lok Sabha, are stuck in the Upper House
- Disruptions brought productivity in Rajya Sabha to 68% in the last Monsoon session
- To circumvent Opposition onslaught, the govt has brought 41 ordinances via executive order since 2014
- While campaigning for UP polls, BJP chief Amit Shah threw his weight behind abolition of the practice. Party sources say this paid rich dividends, and hope for a repeat performance in the upcoming general elections
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