New Delhi: A Samajwadi Party (SP) leader on Monday justified the Islamic practice of ‘triple talaq’, or instant divorce, saying that it is better than the alternative: killing one’s wife.
SP leader Riyaz Ahmad wondered what a man would do if his wife were cheating on him. “If a woman has illicit relations with another man, the husband has only two options, either to kill her or give her triple talaq. Triple talaq is given so that she is not killed by her husband,” he said at a public event in Bareily, Uttar Pradesh (UP).
The head of SP’s Minorities Panel, Ahmad, said Muslims are being unnecessarily targeted over ‘triple talaq’ especially since Hindus file for more divorces than Muslims.
He said Muslim women should get a separate reservation of 8 per cent in legislature.
“If Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party government is really a well-wisher of Muslim women, then they should give a separate quota to them under women reservation bill,” Ahmad told media
The practice of ‘triple talaq’ in India has been a subject of controversy and debate. Those questioning it have raised issues of justice, gender equality, human rights and secularism. Last year, the apex Supreme Court (SC) deemed ‘triple talaq’ unconstitutional.
Modi government later got the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 passed in Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) making instant divorce in any form — spoken, in writing or by electronic means such as email, SMS and WhatsApp — illegal and void, with up to three years in jail for the husband.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Congress said that the party would support the Bill in the Upper House if the centre included a provision of alimony.
Chief of Congress’s women wing Sushmita Dev said the central government was trying to strike a quid pro quo with the passing of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill and Women’s Reservation Bill.
“We were never against the instant triple talaq bill. But the bill, in its present form, would be harmful to the interests of the Muslim women. It should have a provision of alimony for the victim,” the All India Mahila Congress president said.
She said Congress would push for an amendment in the bill.
“I tabled an amendment in the Lok Sabha for the provision of alimony in the bill, but it did not get passed. If the amendment is accepted, then we would definitely support the bill,” Dev said.
