Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 25
The Lok Sabha today cleared a legislation to ban instant triple talaq, which criminalises instant divorce by Muslim men and seeks jail term for the guilty, amid heated debate and fiery exchanges between Treasury and Opposition benches on several features, especially “criminalisation”.
However, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad insisted the proposed legislation was not meant to target a particular religion but only to ensure gender equality and justice for Muslim women.
“The practice (of triple talaq) is there only among Muslims. If it was there in other religions, we would also bring a law against it as well,” Prasad said, asserting the aim of the Narendra Modi government was only to ensure “injustice” against Muslim women is stopped.
The contentious Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, was passed by voice vote. It was taken up for voting with 303 members in its favour and 82 against it. Each and every part of the legislation was contested and several amendments were moved by Opposition leaders, including RSP member NK Premachandra and AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owasi.
To demands for sending the proposed Act to a review panel and criticism that it “criminalised divorce between a couple and act as a spoiler in relationships”, Prasad said a “penal law also acts as a deterrent”.
Shooting down the demand for “de-criminalising” the law and the criticism that it was “meant to target Muslims”, he said the Hindu Marriage Act also had the provision of strict legal action against a man who marries again without divorcing his wife.
“It should not be viewed with political prism, it is the question of humanity and justice, he argued. Notably, BJP’s Bihar ally JD-U said it would not be a part of its formulation, thereby making it clear which way its six members would swing in the Rajya Sabha where the NDA is in want of numbers. Urging the government to not go with such a sensitive legislation in a hurry, JD-U’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh told Law Minister Prasad to “first spread awareness in the society”. “You have got the mandate to do other things, leave it till the end of the tenure,” he said.
However, a non-NDA party, the BJD with seven members in the RS, supported the Bill in the Lok Sabha, giving hope to the government of its future in the Upper House where all eyes will now be on.
As Opposition leaders charged the government with “selectively targeting” Muslims with a “discriminatory” legislation, women MPs of the BJP, including Meenakshi Lekhi, Poonam Mahajan and Kirron Kher, put up a spirited defence of the proposed law against an “archaic” practice. Members of the Congress, DMK, BSP and the TMC also accused the government of meddling with religious affairs and dared it to bring a law to put a check on lynching incidents in the country.
“It is actually against the Muslim women”, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owasi insisted. “If homosexuality could be decriminalised why not triple talaq,” he wondered.
About women dignity: Law minister
This is not a question of religion, faith or vote, it is a question of women dignity. It is about doing justice to women… More than 20 Islamic countries had banned it, why shouldn’t India. — Ravi Shankar Prasad, Law minister
How House voted
For
303
Against
82
Allows bail
- Magistrate can give bail to husband after hearing estranged wife
- Only affected woman or her relatives can be the complainant
- Allows process of reconciliation between estranged husband and wife
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/30TLM7G
via Today’s News Headlines
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