The Supreme Court began hearing on the ‘triple talaq’ petitions on Thursday saying that, it’s only going to rule on the constitutional validity of oral divorce and not on polygamy. The Apex court said it will determine whether Triple Talaq is part of the fundamental right to religion of the Muslim community.
“If we come to a conclusion that triple talaq is part of (the) fundamental right to religion, we would not interfere,” SC said. “We will also determine whether Triple Talaq is sacramental and whether it can be enforced as a fundamental right,” the court added.
The top court has fixed a six-day schedule for the hearing. While three days will be given to those challenges the Triple Talaq, the other three days will be for those defending it.
The hearing was conducted under a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Jagdish Singh Khehar and four other judges. While the confusion in the legality and validity of this law prevails, the debate was initially instigated by a petitioner, Shayara Banu, who challenged the Muslim personal law over instantaneous Triple Talaq (talaq-e-bidat), polygamy and nikah-halala.
Notably, earlier this week, the Allahabad High Court asserted that the rights of any person, including Muslim women, cannot be violated in the name of ‘personal law’. It further added that the basic rights of women cannot be tampered.
“A Muslim husband cannot give divorce in such a manner which would put a question mark on equal rights,” the court observed. In December last year, the Allahabad High Court termed the Islamic practice of divorcing a woman by uttering the word “Talaq” thrice as “unconstitutional”.
