Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on the instant triple talaq ordinance that the Union Cabinet has just given a nod to. Hitting out at the Congress party he alluded to Sonia Gandhi, saying that the 'distinguished woman leader, who is the ultimate leader of the Congress party' did nothing to end the barbaric and inhuman triple talaq practice by a Parliamentary law purely for vote bank politics.


He said the core component of this ordinance is that an offence will be cognizable only when the FIR is filed by the victim wife or her close relations by blood or marriage.


"Secondly, it's compoundable, it can be compromised only at the insistence of the wife upon appropriate terms and conditions as determined by the magistrate.


"Thirdly, bail can be granted by the magistrate upon reasonable grounds but only after hearing the victim's wife also. As for other provisions are concerned, the mother/victim wife must get the custody of the minor child and the mother is entitled to a maintenance suitably determined by the magistrate for herself and the child."


He said triple talaq was not a religious issue, but a fight for gender justice. "I appeal to Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee to help in passage of triple talaq bill in the name of gender justice," Prasad said.



The Union cabinet cleared an ordinance to make the practice of instant triple talaq a penal offence. The 'Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Bill' was cleared by the Lok Sabha and is pending in the Rajya Sabha where the government lacks numbers.


The Supreme Court last year banned the practice. But since the practice was still prevalent, a bill was brought to make it a penal offence. 


Prasad said there was urgency and compelling necessity for an ordinance on triple talaq as the practice was continuing unabated.