Two months after the Supreme Court struck down the practice of talaaq-e-biddat , or instant triple talaq, the Centre is considering bringing in a legislation during the forthcoming Winter Session of Parliament, highly placed official sources said. Incidentally, the Winter Session has not been convened yet, with the Opposition accusing the government of delaying it due to the Gujarat polls.
A ministerial committee has been constituted to draft a “suitable legislation or amending existing penal provisions which shall make instantaneous triple talaq an offence”, sources said, adding that the “government proposes to bring this in the forthcoming Winter Session of Parliament.
This is being done as, “in spite of advisories to the members of the Muslim community against this archaic practice, there seems to be no decline in the practice of talaaq-e-biddat ,” the sources said, citing the recent case of an Aligarh Muslim University professor allegedly divorcing his wife on WhatsApp.
In August, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had declared talaaq-e-biddat as unconstitutional and violative of a Muslim woman’s fundamental rights.