Talaq ruling: A win for women's fight for rights

The verdict may help women assert their constitutional rights at home, in workplace and in society itself.

August 22, 2017 will go down as a momentous day for women the world over when a 1,400-year-old edict was set aside by an apex court to liberate them from archaic practices. The action may have taken place in a courtroom in India, but its outcome will produce far reaching results wherever women have been victimised by such outdated laws.

The Islamic practice of instant triple talaq was struck down by the highest court in this land. It is a ground-breaking verdict in many ways.

First of all, it vindicated the earlier verdict of the same court that was set aside at that time by the central government, which enacted a law that deprived the divorced woman even of her basic right to maintenance after being unceremoniously stripped of her marital rights.

That action spurred by political motives has also gone down in Indian history as a black mark on our moral values with respect to women. Rajiv Gandhi, prime minister at that time, will be eternally linked with the case of Shah Bano, the aggrieved woman.

In that respect, the present government has done itself proud by its prime minister declaring this judgement as “historic” and one that rightly recognises the fundamental rights of women.

Secondly, this judgement has upheld the validity of the Constitution in unmistakable terms. It has made it clear that women in India, including Muslim women, will be protected against any kind of discrimination or domestic violence. Dissolving a marriage unceremoniously and abandoning a wife are both tantamount to the worst kind of violence and abuse.

The SC ruling has made it obvious that if these practices are allowed in one community, similar forms of abuse could result in others wanting to follow their own perceived religious tenets. Besides, it is a well-known fact that so-called religious precepts are always subject to personal interpretations by religious leaders.

In a democracy made up of various communities of people, personal laws can lead to social chaos. If Indian Muslims feel that their holy texts permit the dissolution of marriage by the mere utterance of a word three times, Hindus can indulge in various forms of polygamy stating that their holy scriptures have allowed them.

A woman can have five husbands or a man can co-habit with his brothers’ wives to father illegitimate children.

Similarly, Christians can claim that they are bound solely by the rules of the Vatican, which can dissolve or legitimise a marriage no matter what our courts decree. That is the reason why there has to be a Constitution in a democratic set up which prescribes the same set of rules of justice and social order for all citizens, irrespective of their background or status.

Liberating judgement

The latest judgement has set aside the practice of instant triple talaq on the grounds that it actually violates the principles of Islamic law itself. By doing so, the court has actually upheld the teachings of the holy text, which are being misinterpreted at present. It may be recalled that the All-India Shia Personal Law Board supported the apex court ruling in the Shah Bano case in 1985.

Viewed in a larger context, the ruling promises to liberate women in India from discrimination of any kind. It need not necessarily be marital. Since Indian women are exposed to the worst forms of sexual discrimination in every area of life, it may help them to assert their constitutional rights at home, in the workplace and in society itself.

Sexual discrimination is a worldwide phenomenon, but women in India are among the worst sufferers in this respect: child marriages and aborting of female foetuses are common in backward states, along with domestic abuse; social discrimination extends to barring them entry into places of religious worship; inequities in workplaces are common, especially in the unorganised sectors.

We see men doing skilled jobs with better remuneration while women are allotted unskilled hard labour in building construction sites and even in factories. For that matter, gender bias prevails even in the organised sector with fewer opportunities for women to progress in their careers. Highly paid corporate jobs also have that glass ceiling that even highly qualified women find difficult to break through.

One hopes that the Supreme Court ruling, although it ostensibly relates only to a distorted religious practice – will help women in India as a whole to deal with domestic, social and professional discrimination with the confidence that they will be protected.