Indian politician Asaduddin Owaisi, chief of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), has voiced his dissent on the Triple Talaq bill passed on Thursday in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament.
Owaisi said that the proposed legislation is prone to misuse. He also alleged that the Triple Talaq bill will bring “Muslim women to the roads, ruin them and weaken them; it will also put Muslim men in jails.”
(Triple Talaq bill will bring) 'Muslim women to the roads, ruin them and weaken them; it will also put Muslim men in jails.
The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Triple Talaq bill — which makes the practice a criminal offence with a provision of three-year jail term for the husband.
If the bill is passed by the Rajya Sabha it will become a law.
In a video that went viral on Twitter, Owaisi was heard questioning the reason behind the government criminalising triple talaq — while supporting decriminalisation of homosexuality and adultery law.
Highlighting the protests over the recent Sabarimala verdict, he said: “Your faith is faith, but my faith is not faith? Is this not violation of culture? Is this not violation of Article 29 of Constitution (cultural and educational rights, protection of interests of minorities)? The intention of the government is not clean.”
Applauded
Many applauded Owaisi for his speech, and for questioning the double standards of the current Indian government.
He said that if the government is so concerned about women, “they must put food on their table and provide them shelter”.
Referring to embattled minister MJ Akbar over the #MeToo allegations against him, Owaisi said, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should have expelled him. Instead, it gave him a place in the party. Now, the party is suddenly “worried” about Muslim women.
The new legislation has a provision for bail and mandates that an FIR should be filed only by the aggrieved woman or a blood relative.
The case can be withdrawn if the man and his estranged wife reach a compromise.
On Thursday, calling the Triple Talaq Bill passed by the Lok Sabha as “arbitrary, excessive, and violative of fundamental rights”, rights activists and organisations appealed to Rajya Sabha members to “withdraw the Bill and significantly redraft” it in the interest of Muslim women.
Last year, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a law that allowed Muslim men to divorce their wives simply by uttering “talaq” three times in quick succession.
