Years
The affidavit said that the 2019 Act helps ensure the larger constitutional goals of gender justice and gender equality of married Muslim women and helps preserve their fundamental rights to non-discrimination and empowerment.
The government in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Monday argued that the practice of ‘triple talaq’ is detrimental to the social institution of marriage and makes the condition of Muslim women very miserable. The Central government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court defending its 2019 law that criminalises instant triple talaq. The affidavit said that the 2019 Act helps ensure the larger constitutional goals of gender justice and gender equality of married Muslim women and helps preserve their fundamental rights to non-discrimination and empowerment.
In the affidavit, the Centre said that despite the Supreme Court’s previous verdict in the Shayara Bano case, which had decriminalised triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat), the practice continues among some Muslims. The government argued that due to the lack of punitive provisions in the law, victims of triple talaq are left with no option but to seek help from the police, where no action can be taken against their husbands due to the absence of legal penalties. There was an urgent need for stringent (legal) provisions to stop this.
The government’s affidavit was in response to a petition that argued that since the Supreme Court has invalidated the practice of ‘triple talaq’, there was no need to criminalise it. The original affidavit was filed earlier this month by Samasta Kerala Jamiyathul Ulema, which describes itself as “an association of eminent Sunni scholars”. Among other points, the petitioner called the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 unconstitutional.
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