Passing triple talaq Bill in Lok Sabha in a brazen manner puts Muslim women in jeopardy

The passing of the triple talaq Bill, officially known as the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, on the same day as it was introduced, without incorporating any of the suggested amendments from the political Opposition, and without consulting any of the stakeholders – the Muslim women activists who led the fight against instant triple talaq leading the Supreme Court to pronounce it "unconstitutional and void" in August this year – sets a dangerous precedent.

Not only is this an example of brute majoritarianism within Parliament – the Opposition exited the House before the vote because of Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's decision to not send the Bill to a Standing Committee – this amounts to the passing of a Bill that has been deemed unconstitutional and discriminatory by a number of legal and political experts, in addition to the Muslim women activists themselves.

The triple talaq Bill, passed in Lok Sabha, will be taken up in Rajya Sabha next, and it's likely that it's then sent to a Standing Committee for further perusal. The Bill effectively criminalises talaq-e-biddat, or instant triple talaq from a Muslim husband to his wife, whether granted orally, or via a written text on WhatsApp, SMS or email, among other forms.

The punishment includes a jail term of three years and a fine, and this is being cited as a highly problematic aspect of the law, since a civil wrong has been turned into a non-bailable and cognisable criminal offence.

The day saw intense debate in Parliament over the Bill, and Union minister of law, Ravi Shankar Prasad, led the Centre's argument by defending the Bill, which was drafted in just three months after the landmark Supreme Court judgement in August this year.

That this exercise was undertaken without consulting any Muslim women groups, none of the petitioners in the historic case, and not even experts on Muslim law, or the civil rights activists involved in the decade-long struggle to see this through, is a self-evident case of rank insensitivity.

Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, while speaking about "Muslim women's pain" in Parliament, omitted the crucial aspect that most victims of instant triple talaq don't want their husbands to be jailed or penalised.

In fact, the Congress MPs Sushmita Dev and Randeep Surjewala had raised a number of issues on the various loopholes and uncertainties within the Bill, such as the lack of clarity on the subsistence allowance, the burden of proof on the words – talaq, talaq, talaq – having been uttered in one go, among others.

Nationalist Congress Party's Supriya Sule raised pertinent points about the NDA government's reluctance to criminalise marital rape on the pretext that it would tear apart families, while not balking at bringing about a law that would throw Muslim families, particularly those from economically backward sections, into absolute disarray by jailing a husband who utters words that have zero constitutional/legal standing.

Similarly, AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi, one of the staunchest opponents of the Bill, pointed out that the Bill is riddled with inconsistencies and loopholes, which are targeted legal discrimination of Muslim men, and thereby putting Muslim women in jeopardy.

For example, there's no mention of the plead insanity clause, an important ground to contest conviction under a blatantly punitive law.

On the part of the government, Union minister MJ Akbar said that "time has come" for instant triple talaq to be outlawed, which is intriguing because the SC has already struck it down as unconstitutional.

While Akbar's speech in Lok Sabha got much applause, it was misleading at best.

Congress leader Salman Khurshid has underlined that the bill doesn't benefit Muslim women and instead sends them into further financial and social insecurity by jailing their errant husbands.

Women's rights activists have pointed out that the penalising might discourage reporting of instant triple talaq, or worse still, may lead to desertion of the wife by the husband without technically giving instant triple talaq.

If the Narendra Modi government is forcing the triple talaq Bill as a favour to Muslim women, without consulting any of the stakeholders in the conversation, it is more than mistaken.

In fact, The Bill amounts to penalising the most vulnerable members of a community and clearing the way for gross majoritarian policing of the members of minority community.

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