Triple talaq bill is a big 'dhoka' against Muslim men and women: AIMPLB

NEW DELHI: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) today termed the triple talaq bill a big "dhoka" (deception) and hit out at the NDA government for trying to strong-arm its passage despite objections.

Dubbing the triple talaq bill "flawed", a spokesperson for the board said that it was not opposed to the proposed legislation, but wants the "flaws" removed.

"Muslim Personal Law Board is not opposing the Triple Talaq Bill, but raising objections on the major flaws which are against fundamental rights of Muslim men and women. The Bill is big 'dhoka'," AIMPLB spokesperson Moulana Khaleel-ur-Rehman Sajjad Nomani told ANI.

He claimed that efforts were being made to enact a "very wrong law".

"There is no such law in the whole world... an effort is being made to make a very wrong law. There are other such flaws. The Muslim Personal Law Board's stand is to get those flaws removed," reported PTI quoting Nomani.

The board requested all opposition parties to consider whether the bill can be passed in its present form.

The triple talaq bill has already been passed in the Lok Sabha and but it is yet to get a nod in the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP-led NDA lacks a majority.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, criminalises instant talaq and provides for up to three years of imprisonment for accused Muslim men.

Nomani alleged the bill in its present form would ban the institution of talaq itself.

"It is generally publicised that this bill is presented to stop triple talaq. But, the fact is, if you read the bill, this bill is to ban the entire institution of talaq," Nomani said.

The bill also enables any person from anywhere to complain against a Muslim man vis-a-vis divorce, he charged.

Over a month after the Lok Sabha passed the triple talaq bill, making instant triple talaq a criminal offence, the Muslim Law Board is all set to make it binding on Muslim men to commit in the nikahnama (Islamic marriage contract) that they will not use the practice.

If a man gives triple talaq despite stating in the marriage contract that he won't, his wife could challenge it in a court of law, citing the nikahnama as proof, the board said.


(With PTI inputs)