New Delhi: Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, on Monday slammed the Modi government for pushing the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2018 - the revised version of the bill popularly known as Triple Talaq bill, saying the bill in its present form can affect crores of people and can't be passed like this.
"The bill can positively or negatively affect the lives of crores of people. It can't be passed just like this without going to a Select Committee", he said in the Rajya Sabha which was adjourned till January 02 because of the uproar.
The amended version of Triple Talaq bill was supposed to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha today. However, as soon as an effort was made to take this Bill up, an uproar erupted in the house. As the House was not in order, deputy chairman Harivansh adjourned the house for 15 minutes. But when the House reconvened, uproar continued and later it was adjourned till January 02.
Earlier, TMC leader Derek O Brien said all opposition parties unanimously want the Bill to be sent to a select committee for proper scrutiny. Congress leader Anand Sharma said that a legislative scrutiny was critical of the Bill before it could be taken up by the house.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affair Vijay Goel on the other hand attacked the opposition for stalling the bill, saying they had no sympathy for the Muslim women.
The bill makes instant talaq a criminal offence with three year jail term. Earlier, more than 40 leadng rights bodies had urged the Rajya Sabha members to reject the bill in its present form. All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and othe Muslims NGOs have already expressed their opposition to the bill.
Those opposing the bill say that a criminal angle cannot be introduced in a civil matter, especially when there is no punishment for desertion in any other religion. They also say there is no clarity on who would provide maintenance to the wife once the husband is in jail and argue that such hardline tactics cannot bring a family together.
An earlier version of the bill was stalled by the Rajya Sabha. The government has made certain changes in the revised version, but it has not incorporated the changes demanded by the opposition, especially on the penal clause.
Pitching for the bill, Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the issue involves the lives of thousands of women and should not be subject to politics. He also stressed that it was not against any particular community.
The opposition members including the Congress, TMC and others however called for sending the bill to a Select Committee of Rajya Sabha asserting that the bill has serious flaws. However, sources said the government is determined to pass the bill in the ongoing session and it may even call a joint session of the Parliament for the purpose.
The government had first introduced the bill in the parlaiment in 2017 after a Supreme Court banning the un-Islamic instant talaq. In a landmark verdict in August last year, the Supreme Court found the practice "arbitrary", disagreeing that it was an integral part of Islamic religious practice.
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