KOCHI, October 18: Defending the centre’s stand on the issue of reforms in Muslim Personal Law, union minister Venkaiah Naidu today said not only was the practice of triple talaq - oral divorce under Muslim Personal Law - iniquitous it was also harming women in India.
Pointing out that the Law Commission and the Supreme Court had sought a national discussion on the triple talaq issue; Mr Naidu said that the government was in favour of reforms.
“The centre, after discussion, has given its opinion that triple talaq is not in the interest of women, and it should end,” he said.
“This is the opining of the centre, and we have no inhibitions in saying it. We are very clear that his practice is causing harm to women,” he added.
Naidu’s comments come in the wake of several Muslim organisations and leaders, including members of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), demanding that “personal laws be protected”.
Senior AIMPLB member Zafaryab Jilani had recently claimed that “90 per cent of Muslim women supported triple talaq” and even suggested that the “government should hold a referendum on the issue”.
Earlier this month, the centre had opposed triple talaq and polygamy among Muslims in the Supreme Court. The Ministry of Law and Justice, in its affidavit, referred to constitutional principles like gender equality, secularism, international covenants, religious practises and marital law prevalent in various Islamic countries to drive home the point that the practise of triple talaq and polygamy needed to be adjudicated upon afresh by the apex court.
