Millions of Muslims across India with women in the majority have signed a petition to end the controversial triple talaq (divorce practice of Muslims). Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), an Islamic organisation affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) demanding the ending of this practice.
It received more than millions of signatures of Muslims with women in the majority. Many Muslim women filed a petition at the Supreme Court seeking the ending of triple talaq.
According to Quran, a man should consider his decision for a period of three months after he initially declared talaq. Divorce is only granted after he stated the remaining two talaqs.
CNN reported that the positive response to the petition linked with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s recent success in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. BJP alone won 312 seats out of 403, since 1980 it was the biggest majority for any party in UP. Census says Muslims make 18.5% of its population in UP.
The Central Government told the SC that it is against the gender injustice and for equality between men and women under the Constitution. The Centre also asked the court to examine whether Article 25 (1) was subject to Part III of the Constitution spelling out the Fundamental Rights, especially the right to equality before law and protection of life and personal liberty.
But the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) defended the law and said it is better to divorce a woman than kill her. It said, “The rights bestowed by religion can’t be questioned in a court of law.”
Another Islamic organisation Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind asked the court not to intervene in the Muslim Personal Law in which triple talaq, ‘nikah halala’ (a man cannot remarry the woman unless she has already consummated her marriage with another man and then her new husband dies or divorces her), and polygamy are well rooted and stand on much higher pedestal as compared to other customs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year stated that he supported the discontinuation of triple talaq. He said, “Lives of Muslim women cannot be allowed to be destroyed by triple talaq.”
