Activists decry Muslim Law Board's support to triple talaq

Women activists on Saturday decried the stand of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), supporting the practice of triple talaq. The Board, in an affidavit on Friday, contended the Supreme Court could not go into the personal laws in the name of reform, in view of the protection granted under the Constitution.

It also contended that triple talaq, though the least appreciated form of terminating a marriage, was very much effective and in line with the Shariat law. The practice also protected the dignity of either parties and avoided mudslinging in public, besides allowing the parties to move on without much bitterness and hatred towards each other.

One of the petitioners in the apex court, Noorjehan Safia Niaz, co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) said, “No one can stop a citizen of this country from approaching the court. That is a right Muslim women also have.”

Asserting that the apex court has a right to interpret the law, she described the stand of the AIMPLB as “obstinate and rigid.” In her plea before the court, she said the practice of triple talaq was un-Quranic as the religious text insisted on mandatory arbitration for seeking divorce.

CPM leader Brinda Karat said, “AIMPLB has refused to listen to the many pleas of women on the complete unfairness of arbitrary triple talaq.” Among other grounds, the AIMPLB submitted that Shariah granted the right to divorce to husband because “men have greater power of decision making. They are more likely to control emotions and not to take a hasty decision.”