AIMPLB proposal to socially boycott the Muslims who misuse talaq without valid reasons receives sharp reaction from Muslim intellectuals and talaq victim women who want the Board to first punish its own erring Board members
Surender Singhal from Deoband
As the debate on oral talaq gains momentum and the talaq victim Muslim women approaching the Governments and different courts seeking protection of their rights within the framework of the Constitution of India, the anger against oral triple talaq and polygamy get stronger all over the country. There are flood of cases from the talaq victim women in family courts across the country.
Not only talaq victim women, but also the Muslim women bodies are approaching the Supreme Court bench hearing the matter of triple talaq. They hope the Supreme Court and the Government will help rid them of the inhuman practices in Islam. A five-member bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter of talaq on May 11. The
progressive Muslims women and intellectuals want that the Parliament of India should enact a Muslim Marriage Act on the pattern of Hindu Marriage Act for protecting the rights of Muslim women.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)’s proposal to “socially boycott the Muslim men who misuse triple talaq” has also received a sharp reaction from the Muslim women and intellectuals. The talaq victim women and intellectuals have asked the Board to first implement its proposal on the Board members who are also involved in the heinous and inhuman offence of oral triple talaq.
How the oral triple talaq is misused by some Muslim men and how it ruins an entire family was witnessed on April 18 when a man Mahfooz Ahmed, divorced his wife Rukaiyah Khatun, by shouting talaq thrice inside the Gonda family court itself. After pronouncing talaq he ran away after which Rukaiyah fainted. Mahfooz had married Rukaiyah in 2014, but she was thrown out of her home because her in-laws had made dowry demands which she could not fulfil. Rukaiyah alleged her in-laws had demanded a gold chain, Rs 50,000 and car. “I pleaded with my in-laws and told them that my parents cannot afford the things they are demanding. They gave them what they could. But my in-laws told me that they won’t keep me if their demands are not met,” Rukaiyah said that her husband wanted a wife who works and wanted lot of dowry, none of which she could given to him. The Muslims religious institution Darul Uloom Deoband, is silent on such glaring misuse of oral triple talaq.
The issue of oral triple talaq has become so much serious among Muslims that more than 2400 cases of maintenance are pending in the family court of Saharanpur District alone. This year also more than 100 cases were filed in the court. “The Muslim women have the right of protecting their rights under the Muslim Women Protection of Right on Divorce Act 1986 and they can seek maintenance from their husbands through family courts under section 125 of the CRPC.
Fresh cases of oral triple talaq continue to come up everyday. The reasons of divorce are almost the same in most of the cases—birth of daughters only, marrying another women without informing the first wife, demanding dowry, etc. There are reports that about 1.12 lakh Muslim women are fighting in courts for the injustice by their husbands in the name of talaq.
The stories of talaq in most cases is glaring. Alia Sabari (29), mother of two daughters, and resident of Mohalla Ali Teliwala Chowk was divorced by her husband through a paper sent by post. Alia, a post graduate in English and Sociology, was married to Wajid Ali of Jasodhpur village in Haridwar District on March 25, 2012. Now she lives with her parents in Saharanpur. She has also filed a case in the family court seeking maintenance from her husband. She has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to abolish the inhuman practice of oral triple talaq. She also filed a petition in the Supreme Court on January 23, 2017 against the one-sided oral talaq and polygamy in Islam. Interestingly, apart from her in-laws, Atia also made Darul Uloom Deoband, Ministry of Social Justice and Child Development, Ministry of Law, and Ministry of Minority Affairs parties in her petition. After the formation of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, the state police acted on the complaint of Alia and arrested her in-laws.
The story of Shagufta, who lives in Nanauta town of Saharanpur, is also equally heartening. Three months
pregnant Shafugta is already mother of two daughters. She was divorced by her husband Shamsad on March 24, 2017 when she refused to go for abortion, as the family members fear that she would again beget a daughter only. She was married five years back. She has also urged the Prime Minister and the UP Chief Minister to ensure her justice. Reshma, who lives at Behat Road, Saharanpur and was divorced seven years back, has urged the Supreme Court to bank oral triple talaq.
Sabrin of Mahebaganj in Lakhimpur was divorced by her husband, Tufail, on phone only as she failed to arrange Rs 22 lakh from her parents. Sabrin called on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on April 3, 2017 and sought justice. There are many other cases in which talaq
victim Muslim women have raised a voice against the inhuman practice of oral triple talaq.
Noted social activist of Lucknow, Naish Hasan who has been championing the cause of women for some time, says the dignity, liberty and self-respect of women must be protected. Naish is strongly against triple talaq and veil system in Islam.
Founder president of All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board and noted social activist Shaista Amber says that the Muslim women should be allowed to live a dignified life on their conditions. The Muslim girls wish to live a happy life with husbands after marriage. They wish that their husbands fulfill their aspirations. There is no mention of talq in the Quran. Since marriage is a contract in Islam, registration of marriage must be
compulsory. If marriage cannot be solemnised without the permission of the girl, how can divorce be one sided? If there is any rift in the relationship there must be efforts of resolving the mater through negotiation or with the help of any Magistrate. Shouting talaq thrice in one go cannot be accepted at all. She pointed out that she had given a memorandum to the then President of India Smt Pratibha Devisingh Patil. She is also pleading this matter in the Supreme Court. Ambar also wants that the Parliament should enact a law for the protection of Muslim women. Amber rejected AIMPLB’s proposal of social boycott of those who pronounce oral talaq.
Islamic intellectual and writer Badar Kazami feels that the Muslim women cannot be left on the mercy of the Muslim Personal Law Board which itself follows the discriminatory policies. He said the Allahabad High Court did a right thing in December 2016 by pronouncing oral triple talaq unconstitutional. He wants the central government should put a check on triple talaq and polygamy and concrete steps should be taken for registration of marriage and divorce. “There is no religious hindrance in it. The country should be run according to the Constitution and on the whims and fancies of some religious leaders who does not follow the teachings of the religion. No cleric is above the Constitution.
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