Supreme Court asks govt for report seeking ban on triple talaq

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to produce a report by a high-level committee purportedly recommending ban on triple talaq and polygamy in Muslim personal laws.

A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice U U Lalit gave six weeks to Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for furnishing the copy of the report commissioned by it and submitted to the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2015 titled, “Women and the law: An assessment of family laws with focus on laws relating to marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance and succession”.

The court passed its direction on an



application filed by Shayara Bano, who, through her counsel senior advocate Amit Singh Chadha and advocate Balaji Srinivasan, had earlier urged the court to declare ‘triple talaq’ (talaq-e-bidat) and ‘nikah halala’ (bar against remarriage with divorced husband, without an intervening marriage with another man) under the Muslim personal laws as illegal, unconstitutional and violative of the fundamental right to equality and liberty under the Constitution.

The court granted further time to the Centre to clarify its position on its decision to suo motu examine gender discrimination against Muslim women.