Man pronounces triple talaq to wife at workplace, booked

43-year-old man in Taloja gives 'triple talaq' to his wife at her workplace in front of colleagues with Islamic cleric and lawyers as witnesses.

Navi Mumbai: After being confronted about having a second wife, a 43-year-old man in Taloja gave ‘triple talaq’ to his wife at her workplace in front of her colleagues. He was accompanied by an Islamic cleric and two lawyers as his witnesses.

While the incident took place last year in December, the woman approached the police on Thursday.(File)

The man, identified as Altap Mubaraq Attar, a driver, was booked under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019. While the incident took place last year in December, the woman approached the police on Thursday.

On August 22, 2017, the Supreme Court of India declared the practice of Triple Talaq unconstitutional. Triple Talaq means liberty from marriage, eventually or immediately, where the man, by simply uttering the word ‘talaq’ three times, ends his marriage.

The accused, Altap Mubaraq Attar, has been married for the last 17 years and has 15 and 13-year-old sons out of the first marriage. For the last 10 years, the couple has been staying in Phase I of Taloja. Recently, the wife, who works as a clerk in an engineering college in Kharghar, found that her husband had a second wife. Upon confronting the same to her husband, he assaulted and abused her following which he complained about the same to the women’s cell of Navi Mumbai police wherein the duo are undergoing counselling.

Meanwhile, on December 7, last year, the husband brought two Islamic clerics to the canteen of the college where his wife worked, at around 3 pm when the wife along with her colleagues were having evening tea.

“The husband pointed towards her wife and told the clerics that she was his wife and he was giving her talaq in the presence of her colleagues as witnesses and pronounced ‘talaq’ thrice. Later, she had been consulting the other religious clerics and taking legal advice and finally she approached us now with the complaint and we have registered a case against the husband,” senior police inspector Rajiv Shejwal from Kharghar police station said. The case was registered on Thursday by the police under section 4 (Punishment for pronouncing talaq) of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act.

According to police, the husband knew the routine of the wife and at around what time she goes to the canteen to have the evening tea and accordingly, he planned to visit the place with the clerics so that he could have witnesses as well for the ‘talaq’. “The case is being probed further by us and no arrests have been made yet,” Shejwal added.