New Delhi: Over three months after the triple talaq bill was cleared by Parliament, several Muslim women claimed they aren’t satisfied with the implementation of the law on the ground.
In a two-day conference organised Tuesday by Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) in the national capital, nearly 50 Muslim women from across 10 states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, narrated their struggle with the legal system after they sought to file complaints against their husbands for giving them instant triple talaq.
Some of the women at the conference said it takes very long to convince the police to file an FIR, and even after they register it, the court hearings end up draining their energy.
“I was given triple talaq by my husband over the phone last year when I was seven months pregnant. Soon after the bill was passed, I filed a complaint under the Act. The (Bombay) High Court has been hearing my case since August, but to no avail. I am tired now and would rather focus on getting a degree and raising my child than wasting all my time here,” a woman from Mumbai told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
Shabman Sheikh, a 24-year-old from Mumbai, said the police kept stalling the procedure and didn’t file the FIR. “I have been going to the police station for months now. But they keep asking me to come later or simply refuse to file the FIR,” she said.
The controversial Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill was passed by the opposition-dominated Rajya Sabha on 31 July. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on 25 July. The law criminalises the practice of Muslim men instantly divorcing their wives by uttering ‘talaq’ thrice.
Under the law, the practice will attract a jail term of up to three years. However, several activists, as well as the opposition, had argued that since triple talaq was declared null and void by the Supreme Court in 2017, it was meaningless to criminalise it.
ThePrint reached the Law Ministry, but there was no response.
Also read: Politics of appeasement was reason for evil practice of triple talaq, says Amit Shah
‘It’s a patriarchal system that these women deal with’
Zakia Soman, the co-founder of BMMA, said that most women the organisation has interacted with have told them that the implementation of the law needs to be better.
“It’s too soon to say if the implementation has been a complete failure. But, we do know that the police aren’t cooperating,” Soman told ThePrint. “It is, after all, a patriarchal society and a patriarchal system.”
Women at the conference also complained of not getting maintenance.
Under the law, triple talaq victims are entitled to seek maintenance from their husbands for herself as well as their children. But several activists had argued that criminalisation would defeat this purpose as the husbands would be in jail, unable to earn money.
To this point, Soman said, “It’s true that many of these Muslim men tend to come from poor backgrounds. But so is the woman who is abandoned by him, with the additional burden of taking care of the children.”
Women help desks will solve issues, says WCD
The women and child development (WCD) ministry said they’re hopeful that the introduction of ‘Women Help Desks’ in police stations will help solve the issue of police not cooperating with Muslim women.
“With women help desks being set up across police stations and more number of women police officers being stationed, we are hopeful that this problem will end,” Monideepa Mukherjee, the spokesperson of the ministry, told ThePrint.
“Law and order is a state issue, but if this problem is very rampant in any particular district, the senior officers of the police stations in those districts can intimate the ministry and we can directly take this up with the Ministry of Home Affairs,” she added.
Also read: Why a Muslim women’s group is pro triple talaq ban, but doesn’t support Uniform Civil Code
My husband give me triple talak?