Triple talaq should go, my govt will end practice: PM

Notwithstanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to the Muslim community to not view triple talaq from a "political perspective", several community leaders said that they favoured leaving the issue to introspection within the community, and that the matter should reach a consensus internally. He said that that his government will end the problem.

However, there were a few, including Shayara Bano, the woman who appealed to the Supreme Court (SC) in 2016 to declare triple talaq unconstitutional, who praised the PM.

Modi was speaking at the International Basava Convention in Vigyan Bhavan on the occasion of the 883rd birth anniversary of the 12th century Kannada philosopher Basaveshwara. He released a digital version of the scholar's vachanas of over 2,500 sermons in 23 languages. This is the second time this month that Modi has stirred the issue. He spoke about it in the BJP's executive meet in Bhubaneshwar earlier.

"I appeal to you not to view the triple talaq issue from a political perspective. Come out and find a solution, and generations will remember you. I am sure enlightened people will also emerge from among Muslims and come forward to end this practice, liberating our Muslim daughters and mothers from the scourge," said the PM, during a speech that ran over 40 minutes.

The PM's appeal comes ahead of the sitting of a five-member constitutional bench at the SC on May 11 to decide on the constitutionality of a man divorcing his wife by uttering talaq thrice, apart from the legality of nikah halala and polygamy.

The triple talaq issue came to the forefront last year after Bano, a Muslim woman from Uttarakhand, filed a petition with the SC questioning its constitutionality. Modi found likely support in her, who is waiting for the apex court's verdict.

"I agree with PM Modi. The everyday atrocities that Muslims face due to this is wrong, and that should matter. On small pretexts, women lose their families because of triple talaq. They're left in the lurch, and are separated from their own children. I haven't met my own children in two years," said Bano.

Modi's appeal, however, did not find wilful takers across the community. Dr Asma Zehra, executive member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), for one, thinks that the matter has been politicised by successive governments.

"It is astonishing that PM Modi is raising the issue of triple talaq when there are more pressing matters at hand, such as women being burnt for dowry, female foeticide and rising divorces across the country," said Dr Zehra.

She cited a report on rising divorce rates in the country, especially in metro cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. The report revealed that divorce rates have risen as far as 350 per cent (8,347 cases were recorded in Kolkata in 2014, up from 2,388 in 2003).

"The number of divorces within the Muslim community is the lowest. On the contrary, every year, in India, 12 million girls are killed through foeticide. The PM should be more worried about it instead of targeting one religious community," she said.

Asaduddin Owaisi, Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad, echoed her views. "Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, too, has recently said that people should not be quiet about triple talaq, while his cabinet minister said on Saturday that it is a matter of lust. Yet, as per the 2011 census, 68 per cent of India's divorced women were Hindus, while 23.3 per cent were Muslim women. There are 20 lakh separated or abandoned Hindu women in India, as opposed to 80,000 Muslim women," said Owaisi.

Modi should have waited for the SC Bench to decide on the matter, he said. "Nine Muslim families have lost a dear one in the hands of gau rakshaks, and there is a young Muslim man who has disappeared from a premier educational institution in the Capital. These are more important matters for the community. The issue of triple talaq is raised so that the sentiments of the people are communalised for political mileage," said Owaisi.

However, Noorjehan Safia Niaz of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), said that a BMMA case study of over 117 Muslim women from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal and Karnataka who were divorced through triple talaq, conducted in 2016, revealed that 92.1 per cent women wanted the provision to be done away with. Some of them were divorced over phone, email and even WhatsApp.

"We have been saying all along that triple talaq is a matter of gender justice. Scores of women have suffered and this is a matter to be solved within the community. There is an urgent need to codify Muslim personal laws," said Niaz.