In a major boost for women’s rights, an Indian court on Thursday branded as “unconstitutional” the Islamic practice of divorcing a woman by saying the word “talaq” three times.
The form of instant divorce is cruel, demeaning, a violation of human rights and “impedes and drags India from becoming a nation,” the Allahaba High Court ruled.
“Muslim law, as applied in India, has taken a course contrary to the spirit of what the Prophet or the Holy Quran laid down and the same misconception vitiates the law dealing with the wife’s right to divorce,” said Justice Suneet Kumar who sat alone on the court bench.
“Divorce is permissible in Islam only in case of extreme emergency. When all efforts for effecting a reconciliation have failed, the parties may proceed to a dissolution of marriage by talaq or by khola,” Justice Suneet Kumar said.
“No (Muslim) personal law is above the Constitution,” the judge said.
Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali of the All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board said they would study the order and may appeal against it.
He defended the practice of “triple talaq” saying it is a part of Islamic law. Personal law is an integral part of Islam and the two cannot be seen in isolation, he said.
However, the central government had informed the Supreme Court in October that “triple talaq” is not an essential practice in Islam.
Such a practice is unfair, discriminatory and unreasonable in a secular society. It stands in the way of gender justice, equality and dignity of women. Many Muslim countries have brought changes in the law to move with the times, it said.
Triple talaq is banned in more than 20 Muslim-majority countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Several political parties including the ruling BJP and Congress welcomed the court’s ruling.
Muslims, who are among the marginalized communities in India, constitute over 13% of the country’s 1.3 billion people. Literacy and employment rates of Muslim women are lower than the national average.
I think India court is absolutely right. Muslims men want to be above the women using their dictatoral law to divource their wives in the secular society law system which is not allowed any more. It is also imoral to finish a relationship in three simple words of Talag…Islam really need to be modernize in according to a modern Islamic society but unfortunately Islam has been devided in many sects which is a dangerious for itself.
Pakistani version of Islam is based on lunatic and fanatics theory has nothing to do with Qurran. Indian muslims are requested to take the leadership and create a reasonable law of Islam with secular system.
SC has made a very important judgement…No one law is above constitution of India. Tripal Talaq is a ban of Muslim women. Umpteen number of stories of exploitation by Muslim men of Muslim women have been published, including rich Arabs who are offered young girls for pleasure for a few months and then divorced..
Asia Time’s staff reporter has exposed the true problems of Indian Muslims in the last paragraph. The community is backward because they do not let their women come out and study in modern schools, they are not allowed to work, they are kept uneducated by their father, brothers, then they are married off at the age of 13-16, and the husband does the same…Most unfortunately, they have no voice in their own lives and to make it better…they are seen by Muslim men as baby making factories to propagate their religion. Each Muslim woman has about 3 kids and that means better part of their lives are spent looking after them. The best of 20+ years of their lives are thus completely washedout.
It was the former late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who used parliamentary majority shamelessly to give Muslim hardliners a upper hand and Muslim personal law to Muslim citizens. Disgusting vote bank politics in his days.