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New Delhi: (Neeraj Gaur) The Supreme Court Of India will pronounce its judgment tomorrow in the tripple Talaq case.
The Supreme Court would tomorrow pronounce a historic judgement on the controversial issue of whether the practice of ‘triple talaq’ among Muslims is fundamental to the religion.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar along with Justice Kurian Joseph, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Udau Umesh Lalit and Abdul Nazir had reserved its verdict on May 18 after a six-day marathon hearing during the summer vacation.
The bench, made up of judges from different religious communities — Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Hindu and Muslim, had heard seven pleas, including five separate petitions filed by Muslim women challenging the prevalent practice of ‘triple talaq’ in the community.
The petitioners had claimed that the practice of ‘triple talaq’ was unconstitutional.
The Muslim women, who had filed the petitions, have challenged the practice of ‘triple talaq’ in which the husband pronounces ‘talaq’ thrice in one go, sometimes even by phone or a text message, to get a divorce.
During the hearing, the apex court had observed that the practice of ‘triple talaq’ was the “worst” and “not a desirable” form of dissolution of marriage among Muslims, even though there were schools of thought which called it “legal”.
A battery of senior counsel had appeared in the matter including Kapil Sibal, Ram Jethmalani, Salman Khurshid, Anand Grover, Indira Jaising and Amit Singh Chadha.
The Central Government was represented by then Attorney General Mukul Rohati and Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
It was argued that triple talaq was a discrimination on the ground of sex and this practice was abhorrent to the tenets of holy Quran and no amount of advocacy can save this “sinful” practice which is contrary to constitutional tenets.
The Centre had told the bench that it will come out with a law to regulate marriage and divorce among Muslims if ‘triple talaq’ is held invalid and unconstitutional by the apex court.
The government had termed all the three forms of divorce among the Muslim community – talaq-e-biddat, talaq hasan and talaq ahsan, as “unilateral” and “extra-judicial”.
The apex court had said it was keeping open for adjudication in the future the issues of polygamy and ‘nikah halala’ among Muslims as the Centre had insisted deliberations on these aspects as well.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), had equated the issue of ‘triple talaq’ with the belief that Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya and these were matters of faith which cannot be tested on grounds of constitutional morality.
Sibal had said that either Parliament can enact a law or it should be left to the community itself to deal and the court should not interfere on the issue.
The apex court during the hearing had asked the AIMPLB whether a woman can be given an option of saying ‘no’ to triple talaq at the time of execution of ‘nikahnama’ (marriage contract).
It had asked Muslim bodies how a practice like triple talaq could be a matter of “faith” when they have been asserting that it is “patriarchal”, “bad in theology” and “sinful”.
The batch of pleas had also challenged the constitutional validity of other practices like ‘nikah halala’ and polygamy among Muslims.
The apex court had on its own taken cognizance of the question whether Muslim women faced gender discrimination in the event of divorce or due to other marriages of their husbands.
