The Bill makes instant triple talaq a cognisable offence and proposes a 3 year jail term for Muslim husband who gives wife talaq-ul-biddat; to be introduced in Parliament’s winter session

The Union Cabinet cleared the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (December 15). The Bill, which makes instant triple talaq or talaq-ul-biddat a cognisable offence has been listed by the Centre for introduction, consideration and passing in the winter session of Parliament that commenced earlier today.

The Bill proposes a three year jail term for a Muslim husband who divorces his wife using talaq-ul-biddat and a monetary fine to be paid by him. It also proposes for a “subsistence allowance” to be paid to the wife and grants her custodial rights for her minor children. The Bill will, however, not replace the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act of 1986 which deals with a Muslim wife’s right to maintenance to be paid by her husband or his family once the divorce proceedings have been finalised.

The Bill has been drafted by a Group of Ministers comprising Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Ravishankar Prasad in keeping with the minority judgement given by a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court earlier this year. The Supreme Court had, in August this year, termed instant triple talaq “arbitrary, unconstitutional and unislamic”. However, the ban on the practice was imposed through the bench’s majority verdict while then Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justice S Abdul Nazeer, while holding talaq-ul-biddat unconstitutional, had said in their minority verdict that a ban on the practice should be imposed through an Act of Parliament and not by a judicial order.

The draft law was sent by the Centre to all the States for their views on December 1and they were asked to reply by December 10. Sources said that so far Assam, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have written back to the Centre in support of the draft legislation.

Sources said that the draft Bill, which is certain to face strident criticism from a section of the Muslim community and members of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, especially over the provision of a three-year jail term for the husband, is likely to be sent to a Parliamentary Standing Committee for further consultations and may not be passed in the current session of Parliament.