A total of 50,000 men and women have endorsed the demand of Muslim women to abolish the practice of triple talaq , according to the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), which has launched a nationwide signature campaign. The drive is under way in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, M.P., Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Kerala and U.P, and will extend to other States.
The BMMA wrote to the National Women’s Commission last week, pressing for a legal ban on the divorce practice, calling it arbitrary and unilateral. “We have found that women want a legal ban on the practice of oral/unilateral divorce. Our national study — Seeking Justice within Family — found that 92 per cent of Muslim women want an end to this practice, which destroys their life and the lives of their children,” the letter said.
The BMMA argued that the practice found no mention in the Koran and had a devastating impact on Muslim women. “Today, on a mere pronouncement of talaq thrice, a Muslim woman is instantly and irrevocably divorced. She becomes a destitute overnight and has nowhere to go. This practice is being supported by the clerics of the community.”
Calling for reform in Muslim personal law based on the Constitutional rights of Muslim women and Koranic principles of gender justice, the organisation said, “In fact, the Koranic method requires a 90-day process of dialogue, reconciliation, and mediation before divorce takes place. Women, who have been divorced unilaterally, are rendered helpless as they have no say in the arbitrary process. Qazis approve this malpractice and support the Muslim men to divorce their wife in this manner. Qazis also encourage nikah halala [a woman divorced through triple talaq has to remarry and consummate the marriage before getting divorced again to get back her former husband] and even offer themselves as temporary husbands. Muslim women are citizens of India and all Constitutional safeguards are applicable to them. The Muslim personal law must be reformed in such a manner that all discriminatory practices are struck down as illegal and Muslim women’s Constitutional and Koranic rights are safeguarded.”
The writer is a freelance journalist
BMMA wrote to the National Women’s Commission last week, calling the practice arbitrary and unilateral
