A group of Muslim women walk down a road in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh. (Representational/Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling on triple talaq, Ishrat Jehan, a resident of Howrah in West Bengal and one of the five petitioners in the case, said she hoped no Muslim woman would go through what she underwent.
“Now, after the court verdict, I hope no one will undergo what I went through. It was hell. My husband called me from Dubai and said Talaq Talaq Talaq. It was so sudden. I cannot even remember the date,” Jehan told the Indian Express. She lives in Howrah with her sister and two children.
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a split verdict ruled that the practice of instant triple talaq in the Muslim community is unconstitutional. The bench, headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar, set aside the practice by a majority of 3:2.
In April 2015, Murtaza, Jehan’s husband who used to work in Dubai, called her up and gave her talaq. Since then, life has been traumatic for this mother of three daughters and a son. Later, her children were also taken away to Bihar where her husband’s family live.
“This verdict will help thousands of women like me. Now Muslim women will be able to live with their head high. After the verdict I feel Muslim women will get their rights and equality back. I went to court to get justice. Now I think I will get justice,” said 32-year-old Jehan.
“After the divorce, my in-laws treated me badly and I had to move to my sister’s house in Howrah. Just 15 days back two of my four children were sent to me by my husband, who is now in Bihar and has remarried. Two more children are there. They are being ill-treated, beaten up by their step-mother,” said Jehan.
Jehan now somehow manages to live with financial help from her sister. “I do not know how my children will grow up. I do not have money. After Talaq over phone, not a single paisa was given for my maintenance. I have to put my children to school, buy them clothes. I am a housewife,” said Jehan who is mulling to approach the court to get maintenance for herself and her children from her husband.
“My heart goes out to my two other children who are living with my husband and their step-mother. I have not seen them for a long time,” said Jehan.
Jehan and her husband are from Bihar and got married in 2000 with the duo moving to Howrah, where she gave birth to three daughters which her husband did not like. She ultimately gave birth to a son, but her husband left her for Dubai in search of employment. It was in April 2015 when he called Jehan and gave her divorce over the phone.
