By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
With the government and the opposition in a heated battled over the Triple Talaq Bill in Rajya Sabha, members of the civil society are also acting through petitions, public letters and WhatsApp messages to ensure that the contentious Bill does not get cleared in the Rajya Sabha.
A petition on Change.org issued by members of academia and other intellectuals said: “The Bill criminalising instant Triple Talaq is against Gender Justice”. The petition, which can be viewed and signed here, points out several flaws in the Bill. “The Bill aims to protect the rights of Muslim women, but we believe, it will cause more harm to them if it is passed in its present form. We urge you to call for consultations from a wide section of people working with Muslim women so that the aim of securing gender justice is truly achieved,” says the petition.
“Utterance of the words “talaq” three times has been invalidated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in August, 2017, which means that her marriage remains intact. Since the marriage is intact, Muslim women, like all other women, have a recourse in law both criminal (S. 498A of IPC – cruelty to wives) and civil (the Protection of Women Domestic Violence Act, (PWDVA) 2005 which secures the rights of all women facing domestic violence to maintenance, residence, protection from violence and to custody of their children). We believe that Muslim women must take recourse to these two laws to protect their rights,” the petition, which now has over 2,000 signatures, added.
Forum against Oppression of Women, a Mumbai-based organisation, also issued an open letter to all the members of Rajya Sabha and urged them to vote against the Bill. “…the Bill may have noble intentions of supporting Muslim women, but will instead harm them as it will dilute the rights guaranteed to them under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA) 2005,” the letter issued by the Forum said.
There are also attempts on social media and WhatsApp to send messages to concerned citizens, asking them to call Rajya Sabha MPs and express their opposition to the Bill. The message also provides text to the citizens in helping them build their argument against the Triple Talaq Bill. “As a citizen of India/Muslim man/Muslim woman I am concerned about this bill that was drafted in a faulty manner and may end up doing more harm than good. This bill was drafted without consulting Muslim women and passed in Lok Sabha without much discussions,” says the message forwarded on WhatsApp.
“I encourage you to use your influence to pause this bill in Rajya Sabha so community can be consulted and more people have a chance to offer suggestions to make this bill more effective,” the message reads.
Farhath Khan, a research consultant/Academician who has spoken to four MPs and have briefed another six MPs about the issues of the Bill, spoke with TwoCircles.net. “The Bill has been tabled in haste without consulting the experts. The response of the MPs was positive…they assured that they would make all possible efforts to refer it to a select committee for parliamentary scrutiny,” he said.