The Delhi High Court has sought response from the Centre on a plea seeking to declare the provision penalising a Muslim husband for pronouncing ‘triple talaq’ upon his wife as unconstitutional.
The High Court’s order came on a petition which argued that since the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, has declared the practice of ‘triple talaq’, to be void and illegal, there is no justification for criminalising pronouncement of ‘triple talaq’.
Section 4 of the Act provides that any Muslim husband who pronounces ‘triple talaq’ upon his wife shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years. A Bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar, however, said, “Prima facie it appears to us that the object of Section 4 of the aforesaid Act is to discourage the age-old and traditional practice of pronouncement of talaq by a Muslim husband upon his wife by resort to talaq-e-biddat i.e. triple talaq”.
“The purpose of Section 4 appears to be to provide a deterrent against such practice. Merely because triple talaq has been declared to be void and illegal, it does not mean that the legislature could not have made the continuation of such practice an offence. This is our prima facie view,” the Bench said.
The court also declined to grant any of the interim relief sought by Nadeem Khan, including to stay all FIRs registered under Section 4 of the 2019 Act in police stations within the territory of Delhi pending the consideration of his petition.
Mr. Khan had also sought a direction to the Commissioner of Police to restrain him from registering FIRs alleging the commission of offence under Section 4 of the Act during the pendency of the petition.
It was his contention that once triple talaq has been rendered void and illegal, there is no justification for criminalising pronouncement of triple talaq, since such triple talaq would have no legal effect on the status of the Muslim marriage.
“Since it is of no consequence, and does not end marital status of the wife — who may be subjected to triple talaq, there is no purpose of penalising under the said Act,” he argued.
