New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Wednesday approved an ordinance to make an instant triple talaq a punishable offence.
The ordinance, cleared by the cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, has to be passed in Parliament within six months.
The move triggered allegations of vote-bank politics from the Congress and several Muslim leaders.
Announcing the cabinet clearance for the ordinance, law and justice minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the move had become necessary as cases of the instant triple talaq were being reported even after the Supreme Court last year declared it unconstitutional.
He accused Congress leader Sonia Gandhi of blocking the bill on the instant triple talaq because of vote-bank politics. “I am making this charge with full sense of responsibility that the distinguished woman leader who is the ultimate leader of the Congress party did not allow the bill to be passed by Parliament for pure vote-bank politics,” Prasad claimed.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights of Marriage) Bill, 2017, which makes the instant triple talaq a cognisable and non-bailable offence and provides for up to three years in jail for the husband, was passed by the Lok Sabha but got stuck in the Rajya Sabha as the government had introduced amendments on the last day of the monsoon session.
Sources said the amendments would be part of the ordinance.
Under the amendments, an FIR against a man for invoking the instant triple talaq will become cognisable only if it is lodged by the victim or a blood relation. The bill passed by the Lok Sabha had allowed anyone to file such a complaint.
While the practice of instant triple talaq will continue to be a non-bailable offence, another amendment allows a magistrate to grant bail after hearing the wife.
A third amendment relates to the dropping of charges. If the wife and the husband agree to settle their differences, the magistrate can compound the offence, or drop the charges, on appropriate terms.
The provision of the offence being non-bailable has been retained as a deterrent.
