The Congress party triggered yet another spark on Thursday when the president of All India Mahila Congress Sushmita Dev stated that the party will scrap the Triple Talaq law if they are ‘voted back to power’ in the next Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing the AICC minority department national convention in the national capital in the presence of Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi, Sushmita Dev gave a strong statement. She said that the party was against the Triple Talaq Bill in the parliament in January describing the law to be a weapon for the Modi government to throw Muslim men in jail.
“You would have seen that in recent days, a triple talaq law came. And by way of that law, Narendra Modi created the ground for Muslim women to fight against the Muslim men. Many people told us that if the law is passed Muslim women will be uplifted.
But we opposed the triple talaq bill because it is another weapon manufactured by Narendra Modi to throw the Muslim men in jail and put them in custody. And I am proud that crores of Muslim women from across the country wrote crores of letters, did signature campaigns and opposed it.
Congress party stood against this law in parliament. And I want to promise you that when Congress forms the government in 2019 we will scrap the triple talaq law,” she said while addressing the gathering.
Delhi: Visuals of Congress President Rahul Gandhi from AICC minority department national convention at JLN Stadium pic.twitter.com/Yl7C9p7jUd
— ANI (@ANI) February 7, 2019
What happened earlier?
On Thursday, Sushmita Dev also stumbled upon the members of the women wing of Muslim Personal Law Board who “thanked her for being their collective voice in opposing criminalising Triple Talaq.”
Women wing of Muslim Personal Law Board met AIMC President @sushmitadevmp to thank her for being their collective voice in opposing criminalizing #TripleTalaq while @BJP4India is abusing principles of governance to push through the law in precisely the form that it wants. pic.twitter.com/1uoGEQDAFI
— All India Mahila Congress (@MahilaCongress) February 7, 2019
FYI, On January 13, the Modi government re-announced the ordinance abolishing the practice of instant triple talaq. It should be noted that under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance, 2019, divorcing through “instant triple talaq” will be illegal void and would be sentenced to three years in jail for the husband. However, a Bill to convert the previous ordinance, issued in September 2018, was cleared by Lok Sabha last December and was pending in Rajya Sabha.
In case you don’t know:
Wife reached home 10 min late, so husband gave her ‘Triple Talaq’ over phone
“talaq talaq talaq” (a form of divorce under Islamic law) were the words that wife heard from her husband over the phone when she returned home 10 minutes late. Wife said she promised her husband that she would get back home within 30 minutes but when she failed to reach home on time, she got an instant divorce from her husband.
The victim went to her mother’s house in order to see her grandmother who was recovering from illness. However, before going, her husband ordered her return within 30 minutes but little did she know that fate would turn this way as she was only 10 minutes late. This incident happened in Uttar Pradesh’s Etah district.
“I went to my mother’s house to see my ailing grandmother. My husband told me to return within half an hour. I was late only by 10 minutes. He then called me on my brother’s mobile number and uttered “talaq talaq talaq”. I was completely shattered by his move,” she said.
The ‘triple talaq rule’ was passed last month in the Lok Sabha criminalising the custom but that hasn’t stopped the man by any means. He allegedly gave ‘triple talaq’ to his wife over the phone after she did not return home on time, as reported by news agency ANI.
Not just that! The wife has also accused her in-laws of thrashing her several times at home as she had failed to meet their ‘dowry demands’ during the marriage. “My family is very poor which is why they were unable to give anything to my husband’s family,” she added.
Area officer Aliganj, Ajay Bhadauriya has confirmed that they will initiate a probe into the matter and will take necessary steps to sort it out.
However, the final session of Parliament in the Lok Sabha starts on January 31 and the passage of an authoritative order penalising triple talaq is on top of their to-do list.
