Jinx of Triple Talaq

‘Talaq, Talaq, Talaq’ utters the husband and the marriage is broken. Dreams, promises, expectations and bonding all that a marriage is about  made vague by the utterance of this word ‘talaq’ three times and the woman is no longer the wife of her husband. She is thrown out of the house without even been given the proper explanation of why this is happening to her. All Muslim women irrespective of who they are goes through this inhumane emotional turmoil every day. The funny thing is that while going through the holy rituals of matrimony they know full well that a sword of Talaq is hanging over their heads. World’s third largest Muslim population stays in India and over 90 million Muslim women lead their lives threatened by this sudden, oral, and out of court divorce.

The irony is that triple talaq is banned in other countries with majority Muslim population like Pakistan and Indonesia.  Triple Talaq is mention nowhere is Quran and thus it is illegal in Muslim countries. So, the question is why India is taking so long to outlaw this social system which incurs such injustice towards women?

The issue had come into the notice of the authorities in the past two years only after a Muslim organisation, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), launched a campaign to ban triple talaq and "nikah halala" - a practice where divorced women, in case they want to go back to their first husbands, have to consummate a second marriage.

Muslim women are so mistreated that in a recent case a pregnant woman was thrown out the house for not getting an abortion. The woman said that her husband feared that the third child would also be a daughter and wanted her to abort it. When she wouldn’t listen her in-laws tortured her and finally the husband orally divorced her. Triple had gone to such heights that now the husband divorces the wife only by sending the word Talaq three times through messages and Whatsapp.

Allahadbad High Court has termed 'triple talaq' as unconstitutional and the Supreme Court is yet to decide the issue through a five-judge constitution bench that will begin hearing cases and will decide on the "constitutional validity" of the practice of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims. However, the All India Muslim Personal Board (AIMPLB) had urged the SC to not to meddle with its personal laws as the issues fell outside the realm of judiciary.

(Article by: Somrita Das)