Supreme Court to finish triple talaq hearings from May 11 to 19

The Supreme Court has fixed a timeline to conclude final hearings on the legality of triple talaq from May 11 to 19. The court said it would hold daily sittings between May 11 and May 19 to decide pleas by Muslim women to declare the practice of oral talaq illegal. The timeline comes amid hardening resistance from Muslim clergy, represented by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and others, who have argued that triple talaq has the sanction of the Quran, forms part of Muslim personal law and, therefore, falls squarely outside the purview of the judiciary. The Centre has argued that the issue concerns gender justice rather than religious rights of the minority community, setting the stage for a legal battle which can have serious repercussions. The Supreme Court's decision to expeditiously dispose of the sensitive matter comes just after BJP's landslide win in UP polls. Party strategists claim BJP's support for the campaign to scrap oral triple talaq, contributed to its spectacular victory margin. The practice of triple talaq has been outlawed in many Islamic countries. Although the government insists that its stand is motivated by concern for Muslim women who can be divorced at the whims and fancy of men, the stand is being seen through the lens of BJP's tense equations with the minority community. By deciding to take up petitions challenging the validity of triple talaq, the SC has opened the doors wide for an extensive debate during this summer vacation before a five-judge constitution bench. However, the SC had clarified that it was not going into any larger issue like uniform civil code. & quot We will not debate uniform civil code. This case pertains to determination of the legality of triple talaq. We will focus only on that issue and determine whether it is linked to constitutional rights,& quot it had said. An important factor that will weigh in during the arguments is the large number of petitions filed by Muslim women who have been divorced by men through triple talaq.

It is important that the judiciary finally declares a clear stand on the validity of triple talaq. Numbers of such cases have been filed by Muslim women who have been divorced at the whims and fancy of their husband without any good reason. It is high time that we attain gender equality and justice on pivotal issues of matrimony.