Cabinet clears bill on triple talaq making it a criminal offence, expects it to be approved by Parliament during Winter Session

The Union Cabinet on Friday cleared the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, to make the practice of ‘instant’ triple talaq a criminal offence. The bill follows the recent Supreme Court verdict banning the practice of instant divorce. Speaking to the press after the first day of the Winter Session concluded, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that draft bill  seeks to make the practice of talaaq-e-bidat (or triple talaq) a cognisable and non-bailable offence that would attract a jail term of up to three years [caption id=“attachment_4205933” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] The Centre had in November said that it would be ready with a new bill to ban triple talaq when they meet for the next session of Parliament, which started on Friday. The government had earlier argued that triple talaq ‘violates the fundamental rights of Muslim women’. The government is expecting that the approved bill will be passed during the ongoing winter session of the Parliament. According to a report in The Times of India, the draft bill, was earlier sent out to states for deliberation. Assam, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have written back to say that they support the draft legislation, according to the report. According to News18, the bill not only criminalises instant triple talaq but also talks about compensation for the women and their children. The apex court by a majority verdict in August had ruled that triple talaq is “void”, “illegal” and “unconstitutional”. The 3:2 verdict had held that the triple talaq is against the basic tenets of Quran.