Govt may bring in law against Triple Talaq

The Union government proposes to bring during the winter session of Parliament a suitable legislation for amending the existing penal provisions to criminalise instantaneous Triple Talaq.  

The matter has assumed urgency following reports of several divorces taking place by way of Talaq-e-Bid'at even after the apex court's judgement last August. The government's view is that this could be because of the lack of knowledge about the Supreme Court ruling. It could also be because of lack of deterrent punishment for the Talaq-e-Bid'at, officials said.

In spite of a number of advisories to Muslims, there seems to be no decline in the practice of Talaq-e-Bid'at, they said.  

In a recent incident, a person  at a leading educational institution is reported to have divorced his wife  by WhatsApp and SMS. The wife later went to police.

There may be many such unreported instances of instantaneous Triple Talaq happening elsewhere in the country, officials said.

As the law stands today, the victims of Talaq-e-Bid'at have no option but to approach the police for the redress of their grievance as the Muslim clergy cannot come to their aid. Even the police are helpless as no action can be taken against the husband in the absence of punitive provisions in the law.

A ministerial committee has been set up to frame a law in this regard.