On Thursday, the Triple Talaq Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on Thursday, 3 months after it was promulgated on September 19, 2018. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 was introduced by Minister of Law and Justice, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad on December 17, 2018, in Lok Sabha, in the Winter session of the Parliament.
The Bill voids all forms of declaration of talaq, including electronic or written forms. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 makes declaring talaq a cognizable offence, resulting in up to three years of imprisonment along with a fine.
While the Narendra Modi government is concerned about the age-old practice of triple talaq, here we pen down a few facts to bring clarity to the issues surrounding it.
- According to Census, 2011, the divorce rate among Muslims is less than that in Hindus. While in Muslims the rate is 0.56%, in Hindus it increases to 0.76%.
- There is no government survey in place which has researched on the extent of triple talaq cases in the Muslims of India.
- Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) has conducted some surveys, according to which the divorce rate among Muslims is more than 10%. But there is a caveat these surveys are done, covered only a total of 4827 Muslim. 10 states participated in the first survey(4710 women), in the second 8 states(117 Muslim women).
- In these surveys, a very minor amount of cases consisted of talaq over the phone, SMS or email; Less than one per cent overall.
- With regards to polygamy, there is again no survey which has studied the extents.
The Bill remains to be passed by the Upper House and it would be no easy task for the BJP-led NDA government as the Opposition has numbers in its favour. NCP, BJD, AIADMK, TMC along with Congress have shown their opposition to the Bill.
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