Bombay HC grants pre-arrest bail to man in triple talaq case

The accused was charged with having given instant triple talaq on November 30, 2018.

The Bombay high court (HC) has allowed pre-arrest bail to a Mumbra resident who was booked under the recently-enacted Muslim Women (Protection of Marriage) Act.

The Bombay high court (HC) has allowed pre-arrest bail to a Mumbra resident who was booked under the recently-enacted Muslim Women (Protection of Marriage) Act.

The accused was charged with having given instant triple talaq on November 30, 2018. He informed the court that he would be willing to go for mediation. The court has, however, asked him to deposit his passport with the investigating officer.

The bench of justice Revati Mohite Dere, while hearing the application of Imtiyaz Patel, was informed by advocate Aamir Shaikh that his client had allegedly pronounced instant talaq through a phone message to his wife Begum, in a fit of rage.

Thereafter, his wife gave birth to a son in February and he decided to settle the matter. Shaikh claimed that hence, he needed to be safeguarded against arrest.

The Mumbra police had registered the complaint against Patel last week and had claimed that it was the first case in the state to be registered under the new Act.

Shaikh informed the court that though the instance of instant talaq had occurred last year, the police had booked his client retrospectively.

However, he was not seeking anticipatory bail on those grounds. Shaikh said that he wanted to ensure that his six-month-old son is provided for and therefore, wanted to go for mediation.

The complainant wife was also present in court and the bench directed Patel to add her as a respondent and said that it would like to hear from the woman.

As Patel was unaware that instant talaq was illegal and invalid, it was allowing the pre-arrest bail application on a bond of ₹25,000 and one or two local sureties.

The bench directed Patel to be present before the investigating officer on August 20, 21 and 22 and to deposit his passport with the officer on August 19 after the additional public prosecutor pointed out that Patel had been working in Abu Dhabi and could go there to evade proceedings in the complaint.

The case has been posted for hearing on August 28.