Ghaziabad: Victims of instant triple talaq hail SC verdict

Women say they will not be exploited anymore. Fathers of victims heave sigh of relief and said they will get daughters remarried after Iddat period

Syed Ahmad, a taxi driver from the town of Loni in Ghaziabad, took a break from his profession to distribute sweets on Tuesday to celebrate the Supreme Court ruling on instant triple talaq, saying it was the best thing to have happened to him in a long while.

Victims of the triple talaq said that men used the practice to their benefit. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

His two daughters, Imrana, 28, and Mehrana, 25, have had to return home after being divorced by their husbands, who happened to be brothers. Imrana’s husband gave instant her triple talaq on the phone from Saudi Arabia in December, 2014, while Mehrana’s husband got it delivered through a fax message some two months later.

“The court judgement has come as a balm for people who have to watch their daughters living in daily distress,” Ahmad said, in between distributing sweets to friends and neighbours. “I am grateful to the court for ruling in favour of Muslim women,” he added.

Imrana and Mehrana are as delighted as their father. “We are grateful to the women who contested this case and brought to light the plight of women. The government, if it brings in any law, should consider old cases too as women subjected to talaq are suffering and are left to the mercy of their parents,” Imrana said.

The sisters claim their husbands gave them instant divorce as they were eyeing a piece of land that their father owned but refused to give them.

Since the divorce, the sisters have been living with their parents.

Ummeda, a 26-year-old divorced woman living in Kaila Bhatta locality of Ghaziabad, was also pleased with the Supreme Court verdict. Her husband, she claims had pronounced instant triple talaq over a trivial issue, pushing her into a life of penury. “Since that day, I and my minor son have been living with my parents and there is no financial support from my husband,” she lamented.

Ummeda says that she has completed her 100 days of ‘Iddat’ - the waiting period - after her husband divorced her in May.

“There is no point in going back to the man who kicked my daughter out on streets. She is young and I am considering marrying her off as she has also completed her ‘Iddat’,” her father Mohammad Sabir said.