Women celebrate the introduction of Triple Talaq Bill in the Lok Sabha, in Mumbai.
NEW DELHI: The bill banning instant triple talaq may have got the nod of the Lok Sabha where the Narendra Modi government has an overwhelming majority but it is unlikely to be passed in the Upper House in the on-going winter session as the Opposition will use its numerical strength to send it to a select committee of the House.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, was introduced, hotly debated and passed in a single day on Thursday as the BJP-led government has a brute majority in the Lok Sabha. Leader of the Congress in the House, Mallikarjun Kharge, and a few other requested the chair to send the bill to the standing committee on law and justice but this was turned down.
Government insiders said that it will bring the bill in the Rajya Sabha on January 2, when Parliament meets in the New Year. While BJP and Congress have 57 members each in the Upper House, around 75-odd members from belonging to regional parties and the Left are likely to go along with the Congress while pressing for the demand that the bill should be sent to a select committee. Only around 15 members, other than BJP MPs, are with the NDA in the Rajya Sabha.
Congress has said that while it supports the legislation, it has issues with the penal provision that says a man may have to undergo three years imprisonment and fined for giving instant triple talaq. The party has also cited a reply by the law and justice ministry to a starred question that Muslim community leaders and various bodies were not consulted before the bill was introduced in the House.
The Left parties, CPM and CPI, as well as regional parties like SP, BSP, RJD and NCP have issues with the bill and want it to be discussed at length and not rushed through. Trinamool Congress is opposed to the bill and did not participate in the Lok Sabha debate.
While BJP is using the bill to send across a message to Muslim women that it was supporting them and does not want to delay the legislation, its political opponents make the point that it was actually trying to polarise voters.
