The Union Cabinet on Wednesday, approved an ordinance to criminalise Triple Talaq after the government failed to pass it through both the upper and the lower house of the Parliament. The triple talaq bill, to criminalise talaq-e-biddat was passed by Lok Sabha in December, 2017 but it could not be taken up for the decision in Rajya Sabha’s Monsoon Session in August.
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The NDA government had tried to get the bill cleared earlier in the budget session as well but did not succeed. Here are some of the points which forms the new amendment:
- Triple Talaq is the practice of Muslim men getting an instant divorce by saying the word talaq thrice. The proposed law makes triple talaq an offence with a jail term of upto three years and a fine.
- The law will be ‘non-bailable’ offence and the accused can approach a magistrate even before trial to seek bail but after hearing the wife.
- Another thing is that the police officer will only file an FIR if the victim herself or her blood relations will complain against the husband.
- The third amendment makes the offence of instant triple talaq “compoundable”, where a magistrate can use his powers to settle the dispute between a husband and his wife.
- The proposed law also addresses “nikah halala”, which requires the divorced woman to marry someone else and consummate the marriage if she wants to remarry her husband.