The date of August 23, 2017, could well be a new milestone for India as it moved forward with a progressive decision on behalf of its Muslim women citizens. By declaring the controversial practice of triple talaq “void, illegal and unconstitutional”, the Supreme Court reinstated the inviolate sanctity of a religious precept that had been subverted under the ruse of a cultural practice. Now, hopefully, having stripped the practice of its cultural sanction, triple talaq will be consigned to the dust heap of history. The verdict has cast aside the time-worn carapace that diminished the dignity of a Muslim woman, divested her of her constitutional rights and rendered her vulnerable and susceptible to social stigma. Obversely, by empowering a Muslim man to leave his wife with immediate effect by the simple utterance of the word talaq (divorce) three times in succession, the practice continued to widen the schism in gender inequality and lack of amity between men and women. The fact that it was a petition moved by Muslim women demanding judicial recourse to a trend that was eroding their rights is testimony to the fact that triple talaq has had its time. The Supreme Court’s verdict has been welcomed with near unanimity in India, and beyond the knee-jerk politicking, and the dissent of a few, this decision now needs to make its place and presence felt in society without demur.
From being a regressive cultural practice to becoming a legal transgression, the effacement of triple talaq was overdue and necessary. Granting every woman her basic rights of equality and dignity and the right to free speech are fundamental to India’s Constitution and the verdict has reiterated the uncompromising value of this permanent truth.
