A petition has been moved before Bombay High Court challenging last week's ordinance that makes invoking the instant triple talaq a punishable offence.
The plea seeks an interim stay on those sections of the ordinance that criminalise the pronouncement of the talaq three times at one go by a Muslim husband.
Filed jointly on Friday by former councillor Masood Ansari, lawyer Devendra Mishra and the NGO Rising Voice Foundation, the petition has challenged the ordinance as “illegal, null, void, unreasonable and arbitrary”.
“The ordinance is targeting Muslim men in particular and violates their fundamental rights,” said Tanveer Nizam, counsel for the petitioners. “Under this ordinance, the bail application can be heard only if the complainant (the wife) is present. In criminal cases, bail pleas are heard even if the complainant is absent. Why make a discrimination in this case?”
Nizam said the ordinance runs counter to Articles 14 (equality before the law), 19 (freedom of speech and expression), 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) and 25 (free profession, practice and propagation of religion).
“Will a person with a criminal case pending against him get a job? Why is the government criminalising a civil procedure?” he asked.
The ordinance declares the pronouncement of the instant triple talaq — if written or oral — as illegal and void and provides for a jail term of up to three years for the husband.
