Shia personal law board will back triple talaq ban in SC

LUCKNOW: The All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) has come out openly in favour of a ban on the controversial practice of triple ‘talaq’ (divorce) in one sitting

LUCKNOW: The All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) has come out openly in favour of a ban on the controversial practice of triple ‘talaq’ (divorce) in one sitting among Muslims.

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The AISPLB has decided to move an application as an intervener before the Supreme Court to support the petition filed by women’s rights activists seeking declaration of triple ‘talaq’ as unconstitutional.

A decision to this effect was taken by the executive body meeting of the AISPLB here on Thursday. “Triple talaq — whereby Muslim men can divorce their wives by simply stating their intention three times orally — is a pernicious practice and should be stopped immediately,” said AISPLB spokesperson Maulana Yasoob Abbas.

Islam has five schools of ‘Fiqh’ (jurisprudence). The plea for ban on triple ‘talaq’ by Saira Bano in the Supreme Court would be supported by Jafri school of jurisprudence, he said.

He said the AISPLB had already done away with triple ‘talaq’ as a mode of divorce in a model ‘nikahnama’ (marriage contract) drafted by it.

The AIMPLB too had mooted a similar model ‘nikahnama’ in 2003 laying down specific guidelines and conditions on which a marriage can be annulled by both husband and wife. The prescribed format has been prevalent among a large section of Sunni Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.

Maulana Yasoob said it was a misconception that women did not have divorce rights.

“Both men and women have equal rights but it is the provision of triple talaq that has been cropping off and on and is unnecessary putting the religion in bad light,” he said.

He said he was confident that the draft would be accepted and adopted across the country as it empowers women and gives them rights in the modern context and was not in variance with anything laid down in the Indian Constitution.