Altaf Shah
At last the Triple Talak Bill (TTB) also known as the Muslim women (protection of rights of marriage) bill is cleared by the Rajya Sabha, and now this bill is a law. It was pending for clearance for the last two and a half years. It simply means that if a Muslim man pronounces 3 times talak (divorce) to his wife then it is a criminal act and he should be imprisoned for 3 years and that this talak is invalid. The practice of instant talak was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2017 but it was not a criminal offence then.
Now the mystery is if a Muslim man says talak 3 times, he is a criminal and will be put behind bars for 3 years also his talak is not valid as it is unconstitutional. In this case how will the wife and the children survive, as the husband is in jail for 3 long years also he is in jail for a crime which is invalid as this talak is unconstitutional.
Let us try to understand the subject of talak (Divorce) in Islam. In Islam, Marriage is a contract between a man and a woman, the rules are clearly read out to both before the marriage and if they agree only then they sign the contract and they are husband and wife. If by chance they do not want to stay with each other and they announce they want to separate, then they inform all that they want to separate and it is called as a first talak. Now they have 30 days to reconcile between them and the family members and the village elders try to work out a compromise between them. After 30 days if things still do not work out, then they announce once again they want a talak which means they still want to separate, then this is a second talak and once again there is a 30-day period for them to reconcile and the family members and the village elders to work out a compromise and finally at the end of the next 30-day period if still things do not work out then they finally get a talak (divorce). Please note, in case the wife is pregnant this talak is invalid and the husband has to take care of the wife and the unborn. Though talak is not liked by God almighty, but Islam gives you the liberty to get out of the wedlock or the agreement after 3 months of waiting period or 90 days.
What this bill does is that it criminalises instant triple talak which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court earlier and they said it was a civil matter, the talak in 90 days remains intact and is valid.
An image has been created that the ruling is fighting for the rights of Muslim women and also it is fighting to get justice to these poor helpless women and this law is passed to safeguard the interest of these. In fact the honorable law minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad has said not to politicise this issue and also it is not for vote bank politics but for gender equality and for the rights of Muslim women. But few questions remain unanswered,
1) What if a Muslim man goes away without divorcing the wife, just like any other person from any other religion? There are women in every community who have been left by their husbands and they have to fend for themselves. Why not criminalise all those men who leave their wives irrespective of which caste and religion he belongs?
2) Now that we know that the ruling is serious about giving justice to the Muslim women, let us understand what Justice Rajinder Sachar committee report had to say about the plight of the Muslims. The report gave some startling figures and we discuss just a couple of them here which we thought was very important. Justice Rajinder Sachar pointed out that the average drop out of females in schools was almost 13.2 % but the Muslim community has witnessed a drop out of 17.6%. He also pointed out that the Madrassa education was only 4% and the ruling had an opportunity to give proper education facility to 96% of the Muslim children. He also added that the ruling party missed this golden opportunity, if they were really serious of doing anything it could have been on the education front. He takes a step further when he said that out of 25 students only one Muslim student reaches the undergraduate and only one Muslim student out of 50 students reach the postgraduate. Would it not be great on the part of the ruling to encourage the Muslims by giving them scholarships in schools and universities and also giving them reservations in government colleges for higher studies and also for jobs? Probably then it would have sent a positive sign to the community.
In fact this bill is against Muslim women coz as there could be misuse of this law to settle scores and taking political revenge.
3) Lastly, a bill for the 33% women representation is pending in the parliament, wouldn’t it be a great blessing for women from all the religions to participate in the parliament and be in a position where they discuss and debate their own issues and make laws for protection of women by themselves?
Until then it all looks like it is all politics of hate or appeasement.
