Triple Talaq Bill to be taken up on Dec 27

The Triple Talaq Bill will be taken up for discussion in Parliament on December 27 after the Opposition assured the government of a discussion on the matter.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 was listed for business on Thursday, but the lower house saw disruptions and discussion on the Consumer Protection Bill. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan agreed to postpone the discussion after Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge requested the House to postpone the debate.

"This is a very important Bill and the Opposition wants to have a healthy discussion over it. I request you to defer the debate on the Bill to December 27," said Kharge.

While the Bill was listed for discussion at 2pm, it could not be taken up till 4pm. The House was earlier adjourned and convened at 2pm. Kharge put in his request soon after Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) MP NK Premachandran rose to speak on the Bill. Premachandran as well as Congress MPs Shashi Tharoor and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had moved a statutory resolution against the Bill.

Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who had sought to move the Bill on Thursday, agreed to the December 27 request and urged Kharge for a "peaceful" discussion over the Bill.

The Bill, which makes the declaration of talaq, in written or electronic form, illegal, was criticised by Tharoor who called it a means to discriminate on the basis of religion. "This is an attempt at creating a class-specific legislation on the grounds of religion. Instead of focussing on the larger issue of mistreatment and desertion of wives and dependents, which affects all communities, this bill is couched in terms of a specific religion," Tharoor had said.