DNA Edit: Divorced from reality - Opposition to triple talaq bill is reactionary

The bitterness marking the socio-political discourse on triple talaq reveals how polarised Indian society has become and how hate has clouded common sense.

The bill passed in the Lok Sabha is clearly aimed at protecting the rights of married Muslim women who face the threat of illegal abandonment from their husbands. Imagine throwing a person out of the house just by pronouncing the word ‘talaq’, three times.

The process of divorce was so arbitrary that the Supreme Court had to strike it down, calling it unconstitutional. It had asked the Centre to come up with a law to regulate marriage and divorce among Muslims. The Opposition parties’ argument that marriage is a contract between two adults comes a cropper due to the inherent gender bias in the concept of instant talaq where the right to divorce rests solely with the husband.

Forget a nuanced discussion and debate, the bill is being targeted by the political opposition for its alleged bias against the Muslim man. Section four of the Muslim Women (Protection on Rights on Marriage) Bill states that any Muslim husband who pronounces talaq referred to in section 3 upon his wife shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine. It is said that the BJP has deliberately criminalised the act in order to curry favours from Muslim women. And the BJP has projected the bill as a matter of ‘Insaaniyat aur Insaaf’.

This sort of partisanship will only end up queering the pitch for the bill in the Rajya Sabha where political adversaries of the BJP will most likely stall the legislation’s passage. This means that the fate of crores of Muslim women will become uncertain.

Moreover, since the bill also makes it mandatory for Muslim men to give financial assistance to their wives whom they had divorced through oral talaq, the opposition parties’ stubbornness will directly impact poor women. Apart from being extremely discriminatory, triple talaq was a violation of human rights. It cannot remain cushioned by the fact that it is enshrined in the Hanafi Islamic school of law, which most Muslims in India follow.

If Muslim personal laws go against the rights of Muslim women in matters of divorce, marriage, and inheritance and thereby violate the principles of social and gender equality, they need to be suitably amended keeping in mind the zeitgeist.

The Muslim community is at the bottom of social and economic indicators and the women are the worst sufferers. Little wonder that an overwhelming majority of Muslim women who have come to know of the government’s efforts to ban this form of talaq has expressed support. One of their main grouses was that none of the Quranic guidelines of discussion, arbitration, witnesses, specified time period or even a genuine attempt to resolve differences were being followed. They were not the only ones vulnerable because the kids suffered too since there was no option for child support. Given the helpless condition of so many Muslim women, the political opposition should behave responsibly.