Fresh triple talaq bill in Lok Sabha on Friday
June 20, 2019 22:03
A fresh bill to ban the practice of instant triple talaq will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, which has been listed in the Lok Sabha's agenda for Friday, will replace an ordinance issued in February by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government.
With the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha last month, the previous bill had lapsed as it was pending in the Rajya Sabha.
The bill, which proposes to make the practice of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) a penal offence, had faced objections from the opposition parties which claimed that jail term for a man for divorcing his wife was legally untenable.
The new bill is a copy of the ordinance in force.
Bills that are introduced in the Rajya Sabha and are pending there do not lapse with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. However, bills passed by the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha lapse with the dissolution of the lower house.
The government had promulgated the ordinance on triple talaq twice -- in September 2018 and in February 2019 -- as the contentious bill remained pending in the Rajya Sabha, though it was passed by the Lok Sabha.
Under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance, 2019, divorcing through instant triple talaq is illegal, void and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband.
Seeking to allay fears that the proposed law could be misused, the government has included certain safeguards in it such as adding a provision for bail for the accused during trial.
These amendments were cleared by the Cabinet on August 29, 2018. -- PTI
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