For triple talaq victims, judicial verdict in favor but social verdict still against them!

India

oi-Jagdish N Singh

Many
Muslim
women
in
the
country
still
live
a
life
of
half-divorcees.
They
are
technically
still
married
but
practically
divorced.

In
August
2017,
the
Supreme
Court’s
five-judge
Bench
under
then
Chief
Justice
of
India
J.S.
Khehar
invalidated
the
evil
of
instant
triple
talaq
rampant
across
the
Muslim
community
in
India.
The
judicial
verdict
is,
however,
yet
to
make
qualitative
difference
to
the
life
of
women
who
are
the
victims
of
the
age-old
social
evil.

Observers
say
many
Muslim
women
in
the
country
still
live
a
life
of
half-divorcees.
They
are
technically
still
married
but
practically
divorced.
They
enjoy
no
conjugal
rights.
Nor
do
they
receive
any
regular
maintenance
from
their
estranged
husbands.
These
women
cannot
remarry
in
the
absence
of
a
legally
valid
divorce
(talaqnama).

The
Indian
state
must
see
to
it
that
the
Muslim
Women
(Protection
of
Rights
on
Marriage)
Act,
2019
is
complied
with,
in
practice
throughout
the
country.
The
Act
criminalises
the
practice
of
triple
talaq
–
a
medieval,
patriarchal
method
still
in
use
by
a
section
of
the
Indian
Muslim
men
to
divorce
their
wives
just
by
uttering
to
them
the
word
‘talaq’ three
times.

Explained:
What
the
SC
said
and
how
is
Talaq-e-Hasan
different
from
triple
talaq

The
triple
talaq,
a
unilateral,
arbitrary
tool
in
the
hands
of
men
against
women,
is
not
at
all
Islamic.
Islam
prohibits
crime
against
women.
The
Prophet
commands
that
just
as
men
have
‘certain
rights’ over
women,
they
also
have
‘rights’
over
men;
to
them
belongs
“the
right
to
be
fed
and
clothed
in
kindness.”

More
importantly,
a
rabidly
anti-women
tradition
like
the
triple
talaq
is
simply
not
acceptable
in
our
times.
Modern
India
believes
in
science
and
reason.
Its
Constitution
guarantees
gender
justice,
or
an
environment
of
multi-faceted
development
for
all
sexes,
including
women.
India
cannot
allow
any
personal
law
or
tradition
to
have
precedence
over
women’s
right
to
equality.
According
to
Article
44
of
India’s
Constitution,
the
State
is
rather
under
an
obligation
to
replace
the
existing
different
personal
laws
and
“secure”
a
uniform
civil
code”
for
all
its
citizens,
irrespective
of
their
gender
or
creed,
so
that
they
can
enjoy
equal
rights.

After
the
SC
verdict
on
triple
talaq,
the
law
enforcement
bodies
ought
to
have
visited
the
men,
who
had
resorted
to
this
evil
practice,
and
seen
to
it
that
they
were
fair
to
their
wives.

Man
booked
for
giving
wife
triple
talaq
over
phone
from
Saudi
Arabia

The
observers
say
one
could
expect
a
much
better
future
scenario
for
the
Muslim
women
who
have
been
victims
of
the
triple
talaq.
There
is
a
fast-emerging
social
consciousness
across
the
country
to
reach
out
to
the
victims
of
the
evil
practice.
This
is
sure
to
act
a
kind
of
enlightened
pressure
on
the
law
enforcement
authorities
to
do
their
part
in
executing
the
Court’s
verdict
on
triple
talaq.

(Jagdish
N.
Singh
is
a
senior
journalist
based
in
New
Delhi.
He
is
also
Senior
Distinguished
Fellow
at
the
Gatestone
Institute,
New
York)

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opinions
expressed
in
this
article
are
the
personal
opinions
of
the
author.
The
facts
and
opinions
appearing
in
the
article
do
not
reflect
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of
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and
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same.