The ordinance makes “triple talaq null and void” and will land the offending husband in jail for three years.
Last month, the government introduced a slew of changes to the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill. It removed the clause that allowed anyone to file an FIR about a triple talaq case, and made the offence cognisable only if the complaint was filed by the victim or her relatives. A magistrate was also allowed to compound the offence if the husband and wife arrived at a compromise.
These changes watered down the Bill’s most contentious provision, its criminality clause, and seemed to signal the government’s inclination to forge a consensus on a fraught issue. But these amendments were issued on the penultimate day of Parliament’s Monsoon Session, and there was scarcely any time to debate them in the Rajya Sabha. The matter was deferred to the Winter Session. Unfortunately, however, on Wednesday, the government decided to short-circuit the legislative process and took the route of an ordinance to criminalise triple talaq.
The ordinance makes “triple talaq null and void” and will land the offending husband in jail for three years. The dilutions to the criminality clause, that were introduced last month, do constitute the core of the new law. However, by all accounts, several of the Opposition’s reservations remain unaddressed. The Congress has reportedly criticised the provision that puts the onus of proving the pronouncement of triple talaq on the wife, while Muslim leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi have said it’s wrong to make the practice a penal offence. The government has wielded the argument of gender justice to make a case for the ordinance, and has blamed the Opposition for its intransigence.
The discriminatory nature of triple talaq is, of course, undeniable, but the government’s approach flattens an issue that has more than one dimension. The political environment in the country has given rise to fears that the triple talaq issue is a ruse to stamp majoritarianism. With Muslims becoming vulnerable and targets of violence, such fears are not unfounded. They were left unaddressed when the Lok Sabha passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill in December last year without much debate. However, in the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition raised apprehensions about the Bill’s criminality clause. The amendments introduced by the government in August showed its inclination to address such concerns. While introducing the changes, Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that the government “does not want anyone to misuse the law while ensuring that justice is done”. Amplifying the message in that statement required the government to step up its engagement with the Opposition. The complexity of the triple talaq issue demanded thorough legislative scrutiny. By rushing through with the ordinance, the government has lost the chance to give the law the nuance such a process would have afforded.