On 22 August 2017, the Supreme Court of India passed what is seen as a historic judgment on the matter of Triple Talaq. We look at why this is being hailed as a significant step and other reactions to verdict as well as what needs to be done hereafter.
Indian personal laws permit citizens to follow their own personal laws with regard to inheritance, marriage, adoption and so on. In the Muslim community, the practice of triple talaq – the divorce of a wife by a husband’s utterance of the word ‘talaq’ three times – has been a contentious practice against which women have been agitating against for years. Even other Islamic countries had outlawed the practice but it was still prevalent in India.
The important matter was placed before a diverse five judge bench which represented five Indian faiths: Justice J S Kehar (A Sikh), Justice Uday Umesh Lalit (a Hindu) Justice Abdul Nazeer (a Muslim), Justice Kurian Joseph (a Christian) and Justice Fali Nariman (a Parsi Zoroastrian).
Though two of the judges (Justice Kehar and Justice Nazeer) give dissenting judgments, the practice of triple talaq was held to be unconstitutional and as such struck down by a majority judgment. It was held that this custom is not integral to religious practice and that it violates constitutional morality. It was held to be invalid in law as it violates the right to equality.
The ruling BJP and the Prime Minister hailed the verdict as historic. While the BJP claims this to be a gender issue and a victory for women’s rights, detractors feel that the party's support was motivated by its polarizing politics.
Counsel for All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), which opposed the ban of Triple Talaq, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, hailed the verdict as one that protected personal laws while deprecating the practice of triple talaq. Others of Sibal’s party, the Congress have also hailed the judgment as progressive and secular verdict that upholds equal rights.
Some commentators have been more wary about hailing the judgment as historic; saying that the fact that this was a 3:2 decision is significant and indicative of how far India still is from creating consensus on concepts such as equality and freedom. Several questions about community versus individual rights; religious versus liberty and equality remain unresolved.
Triple Talaq is a issue; but it is only one in a range of problems that beset Indian women. Women – from across faiths are abandoned by their husbands. The plight of many widowed women is well known. Experts say that it is now time to address and legislate on these issues as well.
Some hilarious reactions emerged from Twitter: #SupremeCourt rules that #TripleTalaq is unconstitutional. India achieves unity in divorcity, said one tweet. Unconstitutional, unconstitutional, unconstitutional: Supreme Court strikes off #TripleTalaq said another and #TripleTalaq is that uncle dancing vulgarly at a wedding. Almost everyone wants it stopped. But, nobody wants to be the one to stop it said another.
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