On August 1, 2019, the Parliament had approved the Triple Talaq Law giving hope to several oppressed Muslim women across the country. With the implementation of this law, the Centre had made the practice of instant Triple Talaq a criminal offence.
The Minister of Minority Affairs said that after the performance of the law, triple talaq cases in the country had significantly come down and that Muslim women overwhelmingly welcomed the law. He said that the government had strengthened 'self-reliance, self-respect and self-confidence' of women in the community and had protected their constitutional, fundamental and democratic rights.
Supreme Court Had Declared The Practice Unconstitutional in 2017
The Union Minister had also tweeted that the Minister for Child and Women Development Smirti Irani and the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav attended the 'Muslim Women Rights Day' programme in the capital and interacted with several women. In 2017, the Supreme Court had declared the practice of divorce in which the husband pronounced 'talaq' three times in succession as unconstitutional. In 2017, the government cited the example of the Apex Court and introduced Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage).
As per a report by Hindustan Times, the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha but was stalled in the Rajya Sabha. In 2019, the bill was introduced again and was passed in both houses this time, subsequently received the President's approval.
The legislation outlawed the practice and set forth three years of jail and a payable fine for the violator. Several cases like that of Shah Bano Begum and Shayara Bano versus the Union of India formed the foundational stones of the landmark law.
Shayara Bano sought the Supreme Court's intervention when she filed a writ petition requesting the court to consider Talaq-e-Biddat, polygamy and Nikah-Halala as unconstitutional. Egypt became the first country to ban the practice in 1929. It was followed by Sudan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Morocco, Iraq, Syria and several other Islamic countries worldwide.
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