Lok Sabha passes amended Triple Talaq bill

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Lok Sabha passes amended Triple Talaq bill

An older version of the bill was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha but stalled in the Rajya Sabha - the upper house of the Indian Parliament

Thursday December 27, 2018 10:16 PM, ummid.com News Network

New Delhi: Lok Sabha - the lower house of the Indian Parliament, on Thursday passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 - the amended version of the bill popularly known as triple talaq bill, which criminalises the practice of instant or concurrent divorce.

The opposition opposed the bill which was passed after Congress, AIADMK, TMC and MPs from other opposition parties staged a walkout. It was passed with 245 MPs voting in favour and 11 members opposing the legislation in the Lok Sabh which has a BJP majority.

The bill will now be sent to Rajya Sabha where the ruling BJP lacks in numbers.

An older version of the bill was earlier passed by the Lok Sabha but stalled in the Rajya Sabha - the upper house of the Indian Parliament.

The Modi government had on Monday introduced in the Lok Sabha a fresh Bill to make the practice of tripe talaq among Muslims a penal offence, replacing an ordinance issued in September.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 would supercede an earlier Bill passed in the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha. Under the proposed law, giving instant triple talaq will be illegal and void and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband.

An earlier Bill was approved by the Lower House. But amid opposition by the opposition parties in the Upper House, the government had cleared some amendments, including introduction of a provision of bail, to make it more palatable. But as the Bill continued to face resistance in the Rajya Sabha, the government issued an ordinance in September, incorporating amendments.

An ordinance has a life of six months. But from the day a session begins, the ordinance has to be replaced by a bill which should be passed by Parliament within 42 days (six weeks), else it lapses. The government is at liberty to re-promulgate the ordinance if the Bill fails to get through Parliament.

Earlier, while participating in the debate Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said 20 Islamic nations have banned the practice of instant talaq or Triple Talaq and asked when such is the case why India, a democratic secular nation, can do the same.

"20 Islamic nations have banned triple talaq, then why can't a secular nation like India?", Ravi Shankar said in the Lok Sabha.

"I request that this should not be looked through the prism of politics", he added.

"This bill is not against any community, religion or belief. This bill is for the rights of women and about justice", Prasad said.

Supporting Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said the practice of instant talaq is not mentioned in the Holy Quran and hence should be banned.

"Would like to ask those opposing the Triple Talaq Bill here that in which Surah of the Holy Quran is talaq-e-biddat mentioned? This is not he vs she, these are issues of human rights violation", she said.

The Congress and other opposition parties on the other hand wants the bill to be sent to the Joint Select Committee of the Parliament.

"This is a very important bill which needs detailed study. It is also a constitutional matter. I request the bill be sent to Joint Select Committee", Mallikarjun Kharge of Congress said in Lok Sabha.

Extending his support to Kharge, Sudip Bandyopadhyay of TMC said, "We also request the Triple Talaq Bill be sent to Joint Select Committee, all opposition is of the same opinion."

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