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A Kerala based lawyer Noorbeena Rasheed on the 6th of July moved the Supreme Court against the law criminalizing the practice triple talaq the form of instant divorce that was in Islam, in which Muslim men could legally divorce their wife by saying talaq three times. The law was passed in 2019 after a lot of deliberations in both the houses of the parliament and the opposition passing remarks of it targeting the Muslim community even though the purpose of the law was to protect the Muslim women from such discriminatory injustice.
In 2017, a 5 judge Supreme Court bench in the famous case of Sharaya Bano had given judgment against the practice of talaq-e-biddat and pronounced it unconstitutional. The practice was banned in most countries including Pakistan. Soon after the verdict, an ordinance was passed by the center criminalizing the practice to get a majority in the Rajya Sabha. In 2019 the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 which made talaq in any form, in writing, spoken or electronic was made illegal and void. It is a cognizable offense with 3 years punishment which means it’s non-bailable and falls under the category of very serious crimes like murder, rape, theft, etc.
A Bench of three judges led by Justice N V Ramana admitted Rasheed’s petition which would be heard with 9 such similar pleas that challenge the validity of law. The petition states that the law is disproportionate, excessive, and stringent. Petition questions the provision which allows relatives of the women to file complaints. Such a provision could be detrimental to the marital relationship in case of false complaints.
The petition states that “Welfare-oriented legislation” should promote amicable settlements of matrimonial disputes and reconciliation rather than the criminalization of marital discord, particularly in one community. It also points out the fact that offenses which are more grave in nature like rioting, bribery under the IPC have lesser punishments than instant divorce.
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