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Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha are in agreement with the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill — popularly known as the triple talaq Bill — but they are planning to force the Centre to drop Clause (4) of the Bill. The clause, according to them, criminalises triple talaq, a form of instant divorce, which otherwise is in the domain of civil jurisdiction.
According to the clause, whoever pronounces talaq upon his wife shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and fine. The Congress and other Opposition parties are moving at least three separate amendments with same content against the Bill.
A senior Opposition leader told BusinessLine that the efforts are to send the Bill to a Select Committee, and if the government disallows it, the Opposition will push the amendments on the floor of the House. One suggestion from the Opposition is that criminalisation proceedings should start only if the wife files a complaint. “It should be something like what is there in the provision of making adultery a crime. The proceedings must start only if the wife files a complaint,” the member said.
Opposition parties such as the Congress and BJD had raised the matter in Lok Sabha at the time of tabling the Bill. “The proposed Bill presumes that the pronouncement of talaq-e-biddat can instantaneously and irrevocably dissolve the marriage and proceeds to void in Section 3. This brings the question of how after rendering talaq-e-biddat inoperative in Section 3, its oratory prouncement can be considered a cognizable and non-bailable offence in Sections 4 and 7,” BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab had said in Lok Sabha.
Congress spokesperson and MP Sushmita Dev had asked in the Lok Sabha that if divorce is a non-bailable offence and the husband lands up in jail, how will a woman get the subsistence allowance, and who would provide it for her. This issue will be reflected in the amendments moved by the Opposition in Rajya Sabha.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad is in touch with leaders of various Opposition parties to form a joint floor strategy when the Bill comes up for discussion in Rajya Sabha this week. As the AIADMK is also opposed to the Bill, the Opposition can pass those amendments if there is a joint strategy.
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