Triple Talaq bill to be tabled in RS today

The Rajya Sabha will today hear the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, which was originally introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2017 by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Bowing to the Opposition pressure, the Modi government on Thursday had diluted the provisions of the triple talaq bill that now allows a magistrate to give bail to men found giving instant divorce to their wives.

Major takeaways from the bill:

1. The bill deems all forms of talaq declaration, be they in electronic, spoken or written form void and illegal, making it not enforceable in law.

2. The bill aims to make the use of triple talaq a cognisable and non-bailable offence, though opposition protests against the non-bailable aspect forced the government to introduce a clause in which the accused could get a bail only from the Magistrate 'after hearing the wife'.

3. The bill gives the woman, who has been subject to talaq, the right to seek alimony from her husband for herself and her children. It also makes the woman entitled to seek custody of the children, pending the decision of a magistrate.