JOIN USAmid a raging debate on the practice of triple talaq, the Allahabad High Court has held that this form of pronouncing instant divorce is “unconstitutional” and “cruel”. In a judgement delivered a few days ago, after hearing two petitions, the court observed that the personal law could not be above the Constitution.
In one of the petitions, a 53-year-old Muslim man, who married a woman 30 years younger than him after divorcing his first wife through triple talaq, had approached the court seeking protection. The court dismissed the petition, stating that divorcing the first wife, who had two children, to marry the other could not be held proper.
In the second petition, a Muslim woman, who had married her lover, had claimed that her first husband had divorced her over the phone from Dubai where he worked. The first husband, however, claimed that the woman had lied about the divorce so that she could marry her lover.
A single bench of the court comprising Justice Suneet Kumar said the Holy Quran prescribed that talaq should be given only as a last resort when all other avenues of compromise failed. The court also observed that changes could be made in the laws governing the society in secular countries under the Constitution.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), an apex body of the Muslims, however, maintained that triple talaq has the sanction of the Shariat (Islamic law) and the court’s observations were akin to interfering with the same.
“We have freedom under the Constitution to follow our personal laws,” said senior AIMPLB member and Sunni cleric Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahali here, while reacting to the court judgement.
The Board has also launched a signature campaign to muster support for the practice and its opposition to uniform civil code. “We will not tolerate any attempt to interfere in the Shariat,” he said.
Shia clerics, however, supported the observations. “We do not support the AIMPLB on the issue of triple talaq,” said senior Shia cleric Maulana Yasoob Abbas. All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board chairperson Shaista Amber also welcomed the observations of the court and said that triple talaq should be abolished.