New Delhi: A man from Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, has been booked for adopting the illegal “triple talaq” method to divorce his wife in April, because she allegedly served him a cold dinner.
According to the police, the wife Umra approached them with a complaint, nearly five months after being “divorced”. Following which, she was recently able to file a first information report (FIR) against her husband Mohammed Salman and three in-laws.
The charges brought against them were under Section 3/4 of Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, and IPC sections 498-A (for domestic violence) 323 (for voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (for using criminal force on a woman) and 504 (for insulting).
Puranpur police officer Ashok Pal told ThePrint that a case had been registered and witnesses would now be examined and statements recorded.
Pal added: “We will take quick action based on what is right. Our lady officers are carrying out the investigation.”
‘Triple Talaq’ was outlawed in 2019
‘Triple Talaq’ was a custom by which a Muslim husband could instantly and irrevocably divorce his wife by uttering the phrase thrice in one sitting.
Recognised by the Islamic Sharia Law, the practice was banned by Parliament in July 2019 as India joined nearly two dozen countries worldwide that have stopped the tradition, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Any attempt to reinforce it now attracts a jail term for three years and a fine.
‘Subjected to physical abuse’
Umra, from Sherpur village in Uttar Pradesh, said she has not had it easy ever since her marriage to Salman on 23 May last year.
In her complaint, Umra alleged her in-laws initially refused to take her in as her family had failed to pay the dowry demanded.
She was “accepted” after 3 months when Umra’s mother arranged the amount. But her husband and in-laws continued to torture her, Umra told the police.
On 12 April 2022, when Umra served dinner to Salman, he complained that the vegetables were cold. Salman then uttered the word “talaq” three times, she said.
Reportedly, she initially complained to the local family counselling centre but failed to push through her case for nearly five months.
Umra then approached Superintendent of Police (Pilibhit) Dinesh Kumar P, after which the FIR was registered.
Umra has also said she was thrown out of her in-laws’ house after the “divorce” and was forced to move in with her mother.
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