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The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the triple talaq bill which criminalises the practice of instant triple talaq in the Muslim community.The bill got the support of 245 MPs while 11 MPs opposed the bill. During the discussion in the House, the government rejected the contention that the bill was aimed at targeting a particular community. The opposition, which had been demanding that the bill be referred to a ‘joint select committee’, staged a walkout when its demand was rejected by the government.
TRIPLE TALAQ BILL: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
# The fresh Bill to make the practice of triple talaq among Muslims a penal offence was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 17 to replace an ordinance issued in September.
# 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.
# The fresh bill will supersede an earlier bill passed in the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha.
# The earlier bill was approved by the Lower House. But amid opposition by some parties in the upper house, the government had then cleared some amendments, including introduction of a provision of bail, to make it more acceptable.
# However, as the bill continued to face resistance in the Rajya Sabha, the government issued an ordinance in September, incorporating the amendments.
# An ordinance has a life of six months. But from the day a session begins, it 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.
# Introducing the bill, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said despite the Supreme Court striking down the practice of talaq-e-biddat (instant triple talaq), terming it unconstitutional, divorces in this form were taking place.
# Citing details of instant triple talaq cases, the government had last week informed Lok Sabha that till now 430 incidents of triple talaq have come to the notice of the government through the media. Of these, 229 were reported before the Supreme Court judgment, while another 201 came to the notice after it. These cases were reported between the period of January 2017 and September 13, 2018.
