The Supreme Court will start hearing of the issue of the triple talaq from today. A five judge bench will hear the different petitions related to the triple talaq, ‘nikah halala’ and polygamy. The unique feature about this hearing is that all the five judges are from different religions showing the diversity of the court.
Led by the Chief justice of India Khehar, who is the first Sikh to hold the post, the bench has Justice Kurian Joseph, who is the sixth Christian to be in the Supreme Court, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, a Hindu, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, from the Parsi community, and Justice Abdul Nazeer, a Muslim. It is interesting to watch how this case will shape up as different religions are involved in the amendment of Muslim Personal Law. The triple talaq is a Muslim practice in which the husband can divorce his wife legally, by uttering the word ‘talaq’ three times. Muslim women across different communities have complained about this practice owing to physical and mental abuse and exploitation by the husband.
While women have expressed their issues, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) supports the practice and said that it is a legal way to end the marriage. The AIMPLB held a meeting in Lucknow last month after which the president of the board, Maulana Rabey Hasani Nadvi said that Muslims have ‘complete constitutional rights’ to follow their own personal law. This also means that the responsibility of the community to ‘protect the law by fully adhering it.’
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently expressed that Muslim community should not view triple talaq from the political prism and see it with a human aspect. The PM also urged 25 Muslim Ministers to take responsibility and initiate reform in this regard.
The court will also be hearing ‘nikah halala’, which allows a divorced Muslim woman to marry again, consummate it and break the second marriage if she wishes to go back to her first husband.
