*NEW DELHI – The Indian government Wednesday issued an executive ordermaking the Islamic practice of “instant divorce” a criminal offencepunishable by up to three years in prison.*
The controversial move brings an outright ban on “triple talaq” — when aMuslim man ends his marriage by saying “talaq” (“you are divorced” inArabic) three times in succession — a step closer.
Muslim women say they have been divorced over messaging apps like WhatsAppor in letters, leaving them without any legal remedy.
India’s lower house, controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindunationalist Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), passed legislation outlawing thepractice in December.
But it got stuck in the upper house, prompting the government to issueWednesday’s executive order. It now needs only approval from the presidentto become law.
“There was a constitutional urgency to bring this law. The curse of tripletalaq has continued unabated,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, law and justiceminister, told reporters.
In August 2017, India’s Supreme Court declared “triple talaq”unconstitutional and ordered the government to legislate against it.
Prasad said that 201 cases have been reported across the country even afterthe top court’s order.
The BJP has long pushed for a uniform civil code for marriage, divorce andproperty. India’s constitution allows followers of each faith to use theirreligious laws to govern such matters.
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But India’s 180-million-strong Muslim community has historically opposedsuch a move, saying it will erode their religious identity and violate theconstitution.
Critics have long accused Modi, who is supported by hardline Hindunationalists and who is running for re-election in 2019, of demonisingMuslims for political ends.
“The BJP’s stand on the Muslim plight is well known and they have littlesympathy for the community,” said Yogendra Yadav, an academic andpolitician who heads the socio-political organisation Swaraj India.
“This issue gives them a nice pretext to present the Muslim community in apoor light and themselves as defender of a retrograde practice,” he said.
R S Surjewala, a spokesman for the opposition Congress party, said that thenext step would be to ensure Muslim women get alimony.
“But the Modi government would not want that, they don’t want upliftment ofMuslim women,” he told news channels. – APP/AFP
