WUNRN
INDIA - MUSLIM WOMEN'S MOVEMENT
DEMANDS END ON ORAL, TRIPLE TALAQ DIVORCE
-Mumbai: The
Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (India Muslim Women's Movement - http://bmmaindia.org/Vision.aspx)
has begun a campaign to demand a ban on the arbitrary triple talaq which
leads to instantaneous dissolution of marriage. It has held simultaneous press
conferences in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka, West Bengal,
Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and UP in this context. Victims of
oral/unilateral divorce recounted the ways in which their husbands have
divorced them.
In a press release, the BMMA said, for many years Muslim women have been the
victims of oral/unilateral divorce. State as well as religious bodies have
ignored the plight of women who have been divorced by their husbands. Muslim
men have divorced their wives through letters, sms, emails and orally. A Muslim
marriage is a socio-religious contract which is solemnized with the express
consent of both the parties. How can the same contract be terminated on the
whims of one party, the man, it has questioned.
The press release said, the holy Quran has very clearly mentioned the process
by which divorce can take place. “Arbitration is required as per the Quranic
verse 4:35. Talaak-e-Ahsan is a clearly mentioned process in the Quran
according to which the divorce should take place. Inspite of these injunctions,
a Muslim man continues to divorce his wife without any fear of law. And he is
supported by qazis, muftis and maulanas who justify this method of divorce”,
the release added.
The BMMA feels that a long term solution to this problem lies in the
codification of Muslim family law. It said the BMMA has been working on the
draft of a codified law which is based on the Quranic verses. “While we are
working to strengthen the draft by doing nationwide consultations, we demand
that the government takes urgent and immediate action to ban the
oral/unilateral divorce”, it urged.
It said, the issue of oral divorce is not new to bodies like All India Muslim
Personal Law Board who have never taken any step to abolish this practice. They
continue to consciously ignore the practice thereby allowing a Muslim man to
continue to trouble his wife. One-sided divorce is like a sword hanging on the
head of a Muslim woman.
How can the community progress when half of its population lives in fear and
insecurity within their own homes? The government must immediately declare
unilateral oral divorce as un-Islamic and unconstitutional. This practice not
only violates the Quranic principles of equality and justice but also goes
against the values and principles of the Indian Constitution.