Historic!

The Triple Talaq Bill has been passed by both the houses in Parliament. Come to think of it, since the ruling benches did not have the requisite numbers of its own, effective floor management did make the passage of the bill possible! From today, triple talaq has been criminalised. It's a great achievement of the Narendra Modi government! 

Triple Talaq - also known as 'talaq-e-biddat' or instant divorce and talaq-e-mughallazah(Irrevocable divorce) is a form of Islamic divorce which has been used by Muslims in India, especially adherents of Hanafi Sunni Islamic schools of jurisprudence. It allows any Muslim man to legally divorce his wife by stating the word talaq (The Arabic word for 'divorce') three times in oral, written or more recently, electronic form.

The use and stature of triple talaq in India has been a subject of controversy and debate. Those questioning the practice have raised issues of justice, gender, equality, human rights and secularism. The debate has involved the Government of India and the Supreme Court of India and is connected to the debate about a uniform civil code (Article 44) in India. 

On 22 Aug 2017, the Indian Supreme Court deemed instant triple talaq was unconstitutional. Three of the five judges in the panel concurred that the practice of triple talaq was unconstitutional. The remaining two declared the practice to be constitutional while simultaneously asking the government to ban the practice by enacting a law.

The practice of 'talaq-e-biddat' is said to have been around since the period of Caliph Omar, more than 1400 years ago. It is 'manifestly arbitrary' and allows a man to breakdown a marriage whimsically and capriciously.

Here's a very interesting fact. 19 Muslim countries have laws against the practice. They are:-

  (a) The Arab States.  Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Sudan,                                                 Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.

  (b) The SE Asian States. Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines.

  (c)  And Around Us. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

A great, historic day for India!

Tailpiece.

It was another quiet day with rain, in patches. Achu, my nephew, begins his next phase of his profession at the Tata Tea, Munnar. He has been put up at the High Range Club and takes up his new job at 9 AM tomorrow.