New Delhi: A Bill which seeks to make Triple Talaq a punishable offence was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha on Thursday after a five-hour debate. All the government amendments were carried and opposition demands were rejected.
Before a vote on the Bill, the Congress and the AIADMK staged a walkout over the government not accepting their demand to refer it to a joint select committee of the Parliament.
The proposed law suggests a three-year jail term for erring husbands, which the opposition parties said was not in sync with the spirit of the Supreme Court judgment banning triple talaq. The apex court had last year declared the practice “unconstitutional”. Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad defended the Bill and said it should not be seen through the “prism of politics” but of humanity.
The opposition had three contentions. It questioned the three-year-jail term for the husband, arguing that in no other religion there is such a punishment for desertion. There was also no clarity on who would provide maintenance to the wife when the husband was in jail. The opposition also questioned whether such tactics would help bring a family together.
Refusing to accept the Law minister’s reasoning, Congress party member Sushmita Dev said Prasad had “misread” the Supreme Court judgment, as nowhere does it say that instant Triple Talaq should carry criminal punishment. “In any other religion, there is no punishment for desertion.
The Triple Talaq Bill is not about empowering Muslim women, it is about penalising a Muslim man,” she added. She also said that the definition of subsistence allowance was not defined in the bill.Countering the opposition’s objections, Prasad said the Bill is meant to protect rights of Muslim women.
This bill is not against any faith or religion. It’s about justice and equality for women. We passed an ordinance because acts of instant triple talaq are still taking place. Our intention is not to victimise anyone,” he said.
Prasad told the Lok Sabha that the bill has made the offence compoundable, meaning that the case can be withdrawn if the man and his estranged wife reach a compromise, and that only the wife and her close relatives can file an FIR, ruling out the law’s misuse.
The law minister’s speech was continuously interrupted by opposition members who questioned why the government was not pro-active in protecting the rights of women who want to pray at the Lord Ayyappa temple in Kerala’s Sabarimala. (This report is an online compilation). The Bill is still to be passed in the Rajya Sabha.
