Uproar over triple talaq bill in Lok Sabha

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today introduced the triple talaq bill seeking to make instant triple talaq a crime punishable under the Indian Penal Code. The introduction of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 by Prasad saw a huge uproar in the Lok Sabha.

Opposition members demanded that the Bill should not be introduced before wider consultation involving parties from the other side of the treasury bench. In the view of opposition, Speaker Om Birla called for a voice vote and ruled that the Bill could be introduced in the Lok Sabha. But then the Opposition members insisted on division of votes.

Opposing the Bill, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the proposed triple talaq law is a "textbook example of class legislation" as it discriminates against Muslims. Tharoor said he is advocating instant triple talaq but opposing making a "void act" a criminal offence punishable with a jail term.

He said abandoning of women by husbands is not unique to Muslim community, it is equally prevalent among other communities and so why not make a universal law to provide total protection to all women.

Tharoor also said the triple talaq bill does not provide for anything improving the lot of Muslim women. It only punishes the Muslim men for an act that has been declared void by the Supreme Court.

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi also



opposed the Bill saying that it violates Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution. He said the Supreme Court has declared instant triple talaq void meaning the marriage does not end by such pronouncements.

Owaisi said that the triple talaq bill introduced by the law minister puts the burden of proof on women while her husband would be in jail for three years for pronouncing instant triple talaq.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 was introduced to replace an Ordinance issued in February by the previous BJP-led NDA government. The Bill was introduced in December last year but owing to dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha last month, the previous bill had lapsed as it was pending in the Rajya Sabha.

The Bill proposes to make the practice of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) a penal offence. The government had promulgated the Ordinance on triple talaq twice -- in September 2018 and in February 2019 -- as the contentious bill remained pending in the Rajya Sabha, though it was passed by the Lok Sabha.

Rejecting the opposition by Tharoor and Owaisi, Prasad said the parliamentarians should not become the judge and let Parliament legislate and the courts debate the legality of a law. He said the Modi government was voted to power in the Lok Sabha for bringing such laws and ensuring justice to women.