Muslim Law Board: Will Abolish Triple Talaq in 18 Months

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) today said that practice of triple talaq will be abolished in 18 months and there is no need of government intervention in the matter.

The statement has come from by AIMPLB Vice President Dr Sayeed Sadiq just two days after AIMPLB claimed that divorce rate in the Muslim community was very low and that AIMPLB had received 3.50 crore forms from Muslim women around the country favoring Shariyat and triple talaq.

"We have received 3.50 crore forms in favor of Shariyat and triple talaq from Muslim women in the country and the number of women against these are very less," chief organizer of the AIMPLB's women wing Asma Zohra said while addressing a gathering of around 20,000 women at a workshop in Eidgah on April 9.

Meanwhile, over a million people from the Muslim community from across India have called for the end of controversial divorce practice of triple talaq, with numerous women filing petition before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to abolish the same. Over a million Muslims from across India with women in majority have signed a petition started by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), an Islamic organization affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), calling for the abolition of triple talaq.

Yesterday, the Centre had urged the SC to declare triple talaq and polygamy practiced by many Muslims as unconstitutional as these practices are not sanctioned by Islam. The Centre asserted that they affected the fundamental right of Muslim women to live in dignity and without any security unlike women of other religions in the country.

In an earlier hearing at the apex court, AIMPLB had claimed that triple talaq mode of divorce can't be termed illegal and strongly opposed pleas challenging triple talaq, 'nikah halala' and polygamy among Muslims. It had said that “if such casual denunciation of the verses of the holy book is permitted, then soon Islam would cease to exist.” The Board contended divorce as a private matter and could not be brought under realm of fundamental rights, adding that practices like polygamy fell outside the realm of judiciary. In the popular practice of talaq, a Muslim woman can be instantly divorced by her husband by repeating 'talaq' thrice. As per 'nikah halala', a woman divorcee has to marry someone else and consummate this marriage before getting a divorce to remarry her earlier husband.