Union cabinet clears Triple Talaq bill, 3 years jail proposed for offenders

The Union Cabinet on Friday cleared the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 to criminalise the instant divorce practice. The bill is likely to be tabled in the current session of Parliament. 

Here is all you need to know about the triple talaq bill:

1. Maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment and fine to men pronouncing 'talaq-ebiddat'.

2. The new proposed law will become a cognizable and non-bailable offence. 

3. The bill says that triple talaq in any form either verbal or writing by any means like email, Whatsapp and SMS would be illegal and void.

4. The provision of maintenance and custody of minor child has been incorporated to ensure legal and financial protection in case husband forcibly throws the victim out of the house. It would empower women to approach magistrate seeking maintenance and custody of minor child.

5. The bill is set to be tabled in the Parliament to be passed by both the houses to finally become a law.

6. All states, except Jammu and Kashmir will be part of the law once it is passed in both houses of the Parliament. 

7. The states that have supported the proposed bill are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Assam.

8.  Earlier, the five-judge Constitution Bench had struck down the practice of instant triple talaq in a 3:2 judgment. The top court had called the controversial practice of instant divorce as "arbitrary and unconstitutional".