By Tariq Hasan for TwoCircles.net
Algarh: The Triple Talaq bill passed in the Lok Sabha and to be presented in the Rajya Sabha if passed without amendments’ would certainly become a classic case of judicial overkill. Instead of providing succour and financial support to a women who seeks to exert her right for divorce and fair compensation the provision of bill will end up in reducing her to penury since her husband who should have been penalised for his wrongs would be locked in jail where he would certainly not be in a position to fulfill his obligation to support his estranged wife and progeny.
Without trying to find fault behind the idea of the bill which, ostensibly is to punish the husband for committing an illegal act the bill makes it virtually impossible for the husband to fulfill his obligation to support his wife since he would be languishing behind bars for three years. Even a cursory examination of the present provision would reveal that it would instead have been advisable for heavily penalising the husband for his wrong doing. The penal amount could have been added to the normal designated maintenance amount to be paid to the wife. Secondly, the bill should have included a provision for an adequate safeguard for ensuring that no innocent person is framed. Ironically instead of this, the provisions of the bill make it very vulnerable for misuse even by a third party with vested interests. The option of arresting a wrong doer could have been provided only after the errant husband failed to pay the imposed penalty.
This writer spoke to a number of leading religious scholars at the Aligarh Muslim University. They, while obliquely admitting that the Muslim community is paying a price for dragging its feet for years over the long standing need for reform in its marriage laws . They ruefully accepted that the community has instead landed itself in a mess largely of its own creation . Clearly, the cure for the ills has ultimately ended up in worsening the disease.
This unfortunate state of affairs has come at a time when the community is already facing intense pressures because of the present ruling dispensation which is pulling no punches in its attempts to browbeat and push the sullen Muslim community to a corner on one pretext or the other. It appears that the NDA Government is oblivious of the long term damage to the polity which this state of affairs could ultimately lead to.
Leading clerics and scholars at the Aligarh Muslim University have described the Bill on Triple Talaq as a “blatant attempt not only to disturb Muslim society but also to cause long term damage to the genuine interests of Muslim women.”
The scholars were unanimously of the view that under the garb of emancipating Muslim women, a political decision had been taken without even a perfunctory attempt to consult members of the Muslim community, Islamic scholars and eminent legal luminaries of the country.
Mufti Zahid, a senior member of the faculty in the Department of Sunni Theology told this writer, “We were under the impression that as per the advice of the Supreme Court, the government would draw up a legislation which would help in implementing the law banning instant triple talaq. But what is being hustled through in the Parliament is merely a provision to use a criminal law which would totally destroy the future of a Muslim woman who only seeks to get rid of an unwanted husband”.
Zahid said, “Muslim women, like all Indian women, should have the right to divorce their husband and still enjoy legal protection to lead a better life. This Bill is designed to deprive her of even this basic right. If it becomes law, then any Muslim woman, whose husband has been accused of instant triple talaq, will herself face a tragic future. Her husband will be languishing in jail without any provision of providing her and her children any financial security. She would be left in a limbo because nobody would be ready to remarry her as she would be held responsible of sending her husband to jail”.
Professor Saud Alam Qasmi, a prominent Muslim scholar and present Dean, Faculty of Sunni Theology said, “The Supreme Court has declared the instant Triple Talaq null and void. When, this form of divorce is already illegal then what is the objective behind this proposed Bill. We feel that this is purely a political decision in the garb of protecting the rights of the Muslim women. The consequences of this proposed measure would be disastrous not just for Muslim men but also for Muslim women whose genuine interests are being trampled and destroyed”.
Dr Rahat Abrar, Director, Urdu Academy, AMU said, “All enlightened sections of Muslim society feel that the time is ripe for Muslim society to take steps to reform itself. The Supreme Court’s decision banning instant triple talaq was a positive step in this direction. But by over criminalization of this Act, the central government aims to derail the entire process of Muslim reform”.
Abrar said that in 1980s, moderate and forward looking sections of the Ulema had, under the leadership of the Fiqh Academy, drawn up a blue print for the reform of Muslim society including marriage laws. It is now time for the Muslim society to relook at this document and start a process of genuine reform. The government can help in this process by drawing up a more comprehensive and less controversial law against instant triple talaq and avoid taking a step which would cause extreme distress to the Muslim community.