As the opposition parties continue to oppose the Tripple talaq bill, another incident of triple talaq and nikah halala has emerged. A woman from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh received a triple talaq from her husband over the phone. The husband went on to marry another woman after that. After that, her father-in-law had asked her to undergo nikah halala in order to get back with her husband. The victim has filed a complaint regarding the incident with the State Women Commission and the case was heard on Friday. Anil Bhediya, the Child and Woman Welfare minister, was also present during the hearing.
As per reports, the husband was having an affair with another woman. As a result, he called up this wife and said “talaq” three times. After that, they started to live separately, and the husband married the other woman.
Now the woman wants to get back with her husband. However, her father-in-law asked her to undergo nikah halala as a pre-condition as per sharia rules. A complaint of dowry harassment was also filed by the police. As the matter is serious, the Women Commission has adviced the woman to approach the courts.
The Sharia custom of nikah halala requires a divorced woman to marry another man and consummate the marriage in order to return to her first husband. Often, such temporary marriage is done with another male member of the husband’s family, including father and brothers of the husband.
At the hearing on Friday, the woman had appealed to her husband to arrange for her maintenance. But the Women’s Commission has said that the woman can’t be divorced by just saying talaq three times. The Commission directed the victim to seek redressal from the courts.
The incident comes to light just days after the Lok Sabha passed the bill to criminalise triple talaq. The practise of Triple Talaq has already been declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, seeks to criminalize the act of instant divorce among Muslims with a three-year jail sentence for men who practice triple talaq, which has been made illegal by the Supreme Court.
Recently, a Surat man had given triple talaq to his wife after her parents could not give dowry to buy an auto-rickshaw. In another shocking incident, a man issued Triple Talaq and then pressurized her to undergo halala with his younger brother and uncle.
In Uttar Pradesh, Muslim clerics objected to Lucknow University’s decision of including Triple Talaq in the curriculum and demanded it to be dropped.