Triple talaq crusaders’ fight goes on

The Triple Talaq Bill has been a major poll plank of the BJP, with the party trying its best to woo a section of minorities with the legislation, even as those who had led the crusade against the practice continue to fight for their survival.

In its recently released manifesto for the Lok Sabha poll, the BJP, which failed to legislate the Bill in Parliament due to stiff resistance by the Opposition, has pledged to eliminate the practices of instant talaq and nikah halala if re-elected to power.

The party’s Mahila Morcha president Vijaya Rahatkar said that the efforts of the Narendra Modi government to pass the Triple Talaq Bill “will surely yield positive results for the BJP” in the ongoing Lok Sabha poll.

Ironically, anti-triple talaq champions — Ishrat Jahan, Shayara Bano and Atiya Sabri — who had moved the Supreme Court to seek an end to the practice of instant divorce continue to live in abject poverty, with little or no means of income. The court, in a landmark judgment in 2017, held the practice “void” and “unconstitutional”.

Arguing that the Bill does not empower women, All India Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev said, “Criminalising the practice isn’t the solution.”