Triple talaq bill to be presented in RS on Monday

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal told reporters in Kochi Saturday the party would join hands with others to prevent the bill from getting passed in the House

He said 10 opposition parties had openly come out against the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 when it was introduced in the Lok Sabha

Even the parties which support the government on various issues, including the AIADMK, have opposed the bill, said Venugopal, who is also a Congress floor strategist

The opposition has questioned the stringent provisions like criminalisation of a civil wrong in the triple talaq bill

The Opposition has been demanding that the bill be referred to a ‘Joint Select Committee’ of Parliament for further scrutiny

On Thursday, the government rejected the Opposition’s contention the bill it was aimed at targeting a particular community

Piloting the bill, Prasad had said there should be no politics on the bill, stressing it was not against any particular community

Describing the passage of the triple talaq bill in the Lok Sabha as a historic step towards ensuring equality and dignity of Muslim women, BJP chief Amit Shah had demanded an apology from the Congress for “decades of injustice”.

The fresh Bill to make the practice of triple talaq among Muslims a penal offence was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 17 to replace an ordinance issued in September

Under the proposed law, giving instant triple talaq will be illegal and void, and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband

The fresh bill will supersede an earlier bill passed in the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha

The earlier bill was approved by the Lower House

But amid opposition by some parties in the upper house, the government had cleared some amendments, including introduction of a provision of bail, to make it more acceptable

However, as the bill continued to face resistance in the Rajya Sabha, the government issued an ordinance in September, incorporating the amendments

An ordinance has a life of six months. But from the day a session begins, it has to be replaced by a bill which should be passed by Parliament within 42 days (six weeks), else it lapses

The government is at liberty to re-promulgate the ordinance if the bill fails to get through Parliament

Introducing the bill, the Law Minister had said despite the Supreme Court striking down the practice of talaq-e-biddat (instant triple talaq), terming it unconstitutional, divorces in this form were taking place

Citing details of instant triple talaq cases, the government had last week informed Lok Sabha that till now 430 incidents of triple talaq have come to the notice of the government through the media

Of these, 229 were reported before the Supreme Court judgment, while another 201 came to the notice after it

These cases were reported between the period of January 2017 and September 13, 2018.