The Triple Talaq Bill: A Final Step To Settle Gender Justice Debate Among Muslims

Pixabay

I’ve written a post earlier on the issue of triple talaq in June last year when the government opposed that in the Supreme Court. The SC held that talaq-e-biddat or instant triple talaq is unconstitutional, arbitrary and thus declared it void. Now, the legislation is being done with the continuation of the judicial declaration, with a triple talaq bill already been passed in the Lok Sabha and waiting to be passed in the Rajya Sabha. The bill shall provide a legal right to the Muslim women against this practice and make it a "criminal and non-bailable offence".

But, some Islamic scholars and ‘secular’ politicians are questioning the authority of the Parliament. Isn’t it the Legislature that is formally authorised to initiate and bring reform in the society? Triple talaq is an unjust practice that has been carried out in independent India which is shameful. This practice has been even discontinued in many sharia abiding countries. The parliament has only initiated the legislative process in the continuance of the SC verdict. Some scholars even argued that the Judiciary has no right to intervene in this matter. They said Muslim personal law is not really a ‘law’, it is a ‘religious’ matter and they’ve a fundamental right to practice their religion.

The need for legislation despite judiciary declaration of the practice being unconstitutional stems from many previous such judgements. For instance, untouchability in any form is not permitted by the constitution. But this practice cannot be discontinued unless there would be a legal provision punishing the same. Similarly, the right to education has been declared as an integral part of Article 21, so denying a child education was unconstitutional, but we all know, it is only after the enactment of Right to Education Act by the Parliament, children get their right of education. Therefore, it is very essential to have a legislative and executive framework to make a genuine change on the ground.

However, Kapil Sibal, a Congress leader, former Union Minister and a lawyer is fanning the hysteria. According to him, the only intention of this bill is to criminalize this ‘1400-year-old’ practice of talaq-e-biddat, and therefore, government’s intention is to target Muslim men. below is a screenshot of an article that he had written in The Hindu.

But, how can a practice be stopped without making it cognisable and proposing punishment for the same? The maximum punishment for triple talaq is prescribed to be three years, which would be given only in exceptional cases.

The opposition has unnecessarily created turmoil over the bill claiming it to be an intrusion into Islamic law. They could have suggested some constructive changes they deem fit, after thorough deliberation and utilized the parliament’s time in some good use. Bringing religion and invoking secularism is not going to help in this case. Talaq-e-bidat or instant triple talaq is, by all means, an outright unjust practice that has been carried out for decades in the name of secularism, and it must be abolished by the means of law.

Comments

A Mesmerizing Winter Morning

WAKING UP on a winter morning takes courage. It is a sort of sacrifice only a few people are able to make, those having a remarkable will-power. Unless you have a strong reason to get something done, making this sacrifice is a herculean task, almost impossible. In winter, there is a joy in oversleeping, in cuddling up under a nice warm and cosy blanket. What most people do is— they wake up, see the time, and get back to sleep again. Even when being awake, it becomes extremely difficult to actually get up and resume our work or study. What happens is that our mind succumbs to the bodily comfort of enjoying a great peaceful sleep underneath a blanket. I, too, belong to this group, the group that is not ready to give up morning sleep easily on any day; and when it comes to giving up the sleep of a winter morning, we just cannot. However, one day, on a fairly cold winter morning, when I supposed to be in the sleep mode, I not only got up early but went for a walk too. Dressed up ...

Making A Difference — Indian Media And Ravish Kumar

Today's Bulletin: Priya Prakash Varrier’s killing wink, Taimur’s daily schedule, 'Rashtramata' Padmavati , Donald Trump tweets, Different types of jihad - love jihad, hate jihad, cow jihad, North Korea’s ‘mental dictator’ Kim Jong Un's preparation for a nuclear war, and last, but not the least —An esteemed panel of 'alleged' experts and politicians engaging in an ‘alleged’ debate. If you are a consumer of Indian media, particularly the news channels, you might have got the idea of what my opening words are and where I’m trying to point it. If you think, all mediawallahs (media personnel) are same, or that these are really important topics worthy of your time, you need to think again. Ravish during his hate-speech There is a 'proven' left-wing terrorist, and an atheist, perhaps, NDTV journo named Ravish Kumar who is different. The non-Hindi Indian states might not have heard his name. He is not interested in covering ‘big stories’, no loud ...

The Sensational Case of Salman Khan and Black Bucks, After Two Decades Justice Served?

Before beginning, I would like to reiterate that Salman Khan is just a cinema star, nothing more nothing less. So leave celebrity worship aside and try to be pragmatic. Salman Khan’s past was nowhere similar to his modern-day superhit films. Infamously known as the bad boy of Bollywood, he has been directly involved in criminal cases of pretty grave nature. Hit-and-run case , in which he allegedly under the influence of alcohol ran his car on the footpath in which one person was killed and four got injured. In that case, first his driver was made a scapegoat but a little while later, things became murky the result of which Khan was acquitted by the Mumbai HC in 2015. His relationship with Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan) fetched an excellent TRPs to our media, first with and rumours about their relationship, then with confirmed rumours, and even after the break-up, when former miss world accused him of harassing her. Black Bucks/Chinkara poaching case , about which this post is all abo...

The Bihar B Ed Admission Crisis

This year in 2018, a first-ever centralized test was conducted by the Nalanda Open University (NOU), on behalf of the Bihar government for admission into 322 B.Ed colleges across the state. Prescribed by the previous governor of Bihar, Satyapal Malik, as it was publicized in the media, the combined entrance test (CET) was done in order to tame the B.Ed colleges which have been reduced to mere money-making business; some of them being run by powerful people in politics too. They charge more than the prescribed money for admission and yet, they churn out incompetent teachers. The Crisis After conducting the test and announcing result of the same, NOU held counselling of the CET candidates to allot appropriate colleges to them according to their marks. In the result, around 62000 candidates were declared as qualified, and 36440 among them were invited for the counselling held in Gyan Bhawan, Patna. The counselling was merely for document verification and submission. The c...

Netanyahu Invites, Khans Declines - The Bollywood Hypocrisy

THE PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL, Benjamin Netanyahu invited the entire Hindi film fraternity for an event called “Shalom Bollywood” . Some attended while a few didn’t. But, if you think it's as simple as that, like "it should be up to the priority of the invitee and those having a busy schedule may skip the event", you might be wrong. Politics is the case: #Bollywood , we love your films. They are hugely popular in Palestine. Please don’t allow Israel to use them to undermine our struggle for freedom, justice and equality. "There are two ways of living, either go along with what's happening, or take responsibility for changing it." pic.twitter.com/Jl46D7OxDf — PACBI (@PACBI) January 18, 2018 The interesting part is that the people who didn't show up in the event are the same ones who were keen for lifting the ban on Pakistani artists who were banned to work in India on the wake of fidayeen attack on Indian army in Uri, carried out by the guerril...

SSC, The Scam Continues

SSC or Staff Selection Commission , an organization under Government of India, conducts examinations to recruit personnel for different posts in the various ministries and departments of the Government of India and in subordinate offices. Every year, lakhs of government job seekers apply for SSC exams in hope of a stable government job they can bank upon their future. This year too, the examination was conducted as per schedule in February. The difference, this time, is the allegation of mass cheating being executed by some corrupt coaching institutes which somehow managed to obtain the question paper of SSC tier II exams and sold them to the rich and powerful people. The candidates who appeared for exams this year are saying that it is only possible in collusion with the SSC higher authorities. There is a facebook page SSCtube from where we got a clear hint of the leak. They posted screenshots of questions before the exams which was shared widely. As per the candidates, the s...

Sanjay Dutt Hero Or Villain? A Review Of Sanju Baba’s Journey As Both

The Sanjay Dutt biopic “Sanju” was released on 29th of June made by one of the best filmmakers of the B-town, Rajkumar Hirani. It was marketed as an “unbelievably true story”. Indeed Dutt’s journey is unbelievable. However, there have been many unbelievable personalities too such as Dawood or Osama. Sorry for comparing Dutt with Don and Terrorist. The drugs, booze, women, and AK 56 make Sanju a largely negative character in the real world. Not his fault, according to the film. Some people say Sanjay Dutt doesn’t deserve a biopic as there are many “good” people, with their “good” work, that go unnoticed. The argument over whether Dutt deserves a biopic or not is inane. It’s like saying Dhoni’s biopic should have been made after his retirement. The truth is, biopics are made on interesting people, not the good ones, especially if it is of commercial in nature. If that interesting people is a negative character, it gets more publicity. Also, a “fictional” biopic cannot be real. Be i...

Social Mirror

Search This Blog