Only three women and a handful of Muslim members of Parliament spoke in the debate on the triple talaq bill in the Lok Sabha Thursday.
New Delhi: The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, which criminalises the practice of triple talaq, was passed in the Lok Sabha Thursday.
The handful of Muslim leaders who spoke welcomed the bill, but most of them voiced their concerns regarding certain provisions. And even though the debate was on an issue of women’s rights, only three female MPs spoke in the debate. Here is what they had to say:
Sushmita Dev, Congress
Dev, the Congress MP from Silchar, suggested the setting up of a corpus to provide maintenance for Muslim women. She remarked that the bill was “silent” on the issue of financial security, as it did not address how a subsistence allowance would be calculated or implemented.
She also questioned whether a Muslim woman could handle the burden of proof necessary to establish her husband’s intentions.
“As a woman, I want to ask you, when you criminalise something like this, will it alienate the Muslim community more than it already has?” Dev said.
“If you had consulted Muslim women, and if you had allowed more women in this Parliament, a legislation like this—full of lacunas—would not have seen the light of day in this house.”
Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP
Lekhi, the BJP MP from New Delhi, described triple talaq as an “arbitrary, capricious, and unilateral practice”. She called for the codification of Muslim law, demanding that triple talaq be abolished, since it is a customary practice.
“Adoption and maintenance, marriage and divorce, only in these matters are personal laws different. This is the state of secularism in this country,” Lekhi said.
Supriya Sule, NCP
Highlighting the personal nature of such a legislation, Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule claimed the bill did not provide for the possibility of any reconciliation between couples.
“Instead of sending him to court, why can’t the couple have good counselors? Why can’t we have intervention from reformers?” she asked.
Sule recounted an incident where a woman told her that since the SC had already declared triple talaq unconstitutional, marital rape should now be legislated.
“Why are you wasting your time on triple talaq? Why don’t you get me equal justice on marital rape?” Sule quoted the woman as asking.
Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM
Owaisi, the MP from Hyderabad and leader of the All India Majlis-e-Ittihadul Muslimeen, said that marriage in Islam is a civil contract, and criticised the idea of giving a criminal sentence for divorce. Notably, Owaisi felt that the bill was not needed, as the Supreme Court had already rendered the practice unconstitutional.
“You are trying to demonise the whole Muslim community,” he said. “Your (government’s) dream of having more Muslims in jail will be achieved. Please send the bill to the standing committee.”
E.T. Muhammad Basheer, IUML
Basheer, national secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League, said the number of triple talaq cases was negligible compared to the national population of Muslims. He called the bill “a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution”.
“You are unnecessarily taking a gun to kill a mosquito. The sanctity of the house has been ruined,” Basheer said.
M.J. Akbar, BJP (MoS External Affairs, Rajya Sabha MP)
Last week, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board criticised the government for not consulting Muslim stakeholders during the drafting of the bill.
In turn, M.J. Akbar called into question the authority of the AIMPLB on the issue.
“To whoever quotes the AIMPLB, or cites it as an example, what is the credibility of the body? Who has elected it? On what basis?” Akbar asked.