Took this route as Opp refused to support Bill in RS: Minister

The Centre on Wednesday came out with an Ordinance to ban instant triple talaq, the related legislation of which was blocked by the Opposition parties in its present form in the Rajya Sabha.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the Ordinance, which is in tune with the pending Bill banning triple talaq and carries punitive provisions like making it a “non-bailable” offence carrying a three-year imprisonment, but has some safeguards like option for the withdrawal of the case and compromise creating mechanism in front of a magistrate, besides bail before the start of the trial.

Briefing the media, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said this Ordinance was “compelling necessity” to protect the rights of Muslim women. Under the proposed Ordinance, giving instant triple talaq will be illegal and void and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband. Seeking to allay fears that the proposed law could be misused, the Government has included safeguards such as adding a provision of bail for the accused before trial.

“There was an overpowering urgency and a compelling necessity to bring the Ordinance as the practice continued unabated despite the SC order last year,” Prasad told a Press conference.

The Law Minister came down heavily on the Congress, saying it is not supporting the Bill pending in the Rajya Sabha under “vote bank pressures”.

“It is my serious charge that Sonia Gandhiji has maintained silence on the issue. She is silent...It has nothing to do with politics but gender justice and dignity,” he said. Prasad urged UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, BSP supremo Mayawati and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee to support the Bill in the next session of Parliament for the sake of “gender justice, gender equality and gender dignity”. 

While the proposed law makes it a “non-bailable” offence, an accused can approach a magistrate even before trial to seek bail. In a non-bailable offence, bail cannot be granted by police at the police station itself. Prasad said a provision has been added to allow the magistrate to grant bail “after hearing the wife”.

Officials later said the magistrate would ensure that bail is granted only after the husband agrees to grant compensation to the wife as provided in the Bill. The quantum of compensation will be decided by the magistrate, as per the Bill. Police would lodge an FIR only if approached by the victim (wife), her blood relations or people who become her relatives by virtue of her marriage. Neighbours and others cannot lodge a complaint under the proposed law.

Now a magistrate can use his powers to settle the dispute between a husband and his wife if the wife approaches the court.

Under a compoundable offence, both parties have the liberty of withdrawing the case. The proposed law would only be applicable on instant triple talaq or ‘talaq-e-biddat’ and it would give power to the victim to approach a magistrate seeking “subsistence allowance” for herself and minor children.

A woman can also seek the custody of her minor children from the magistrate who will take a final call on the issue. Citing details of instant triple talaq cases, the Minister said till now 430 incidents of triple talaq have come to the notice of the Government through the media. Of these, he said, 229 were reported before the Supreme Court judgment, while another 201 came to the notice after it. These cases were reported between the period of January 2017 to September 13, 2018, he said.

“What is important is that the practice of triple talaq continues in spite of the Supreme Court having annulled it and the Lok Sabha having passed a Bill which is pending in the Rajya Sabha. We have all the evidence and a series of papers in this regard,” he told reporters.

Prasad said he has tried to take the cooperation of the Congress party along with other parties, and had met its senior leader Anand Sharma who said he would get back after talking to the party leadership.

“I had met him five to six times...We had sought cooperation,” he said, adding that there was no response from the main Opposition party.