Centre tells SC triple talaq, polygamy not integral to Islamic practices

SC issued an order seeking central government's views on the issue of rights of Muslim women in matrimonial matters

The Union government told the Supreme Court on October 7 that 'triple talaq', 'nikaah halaal' and polygamy, as practised by the Muslims in India, were not "integral to the practices of Islam or essential religious practices."

"The fact that Muslim countries where Islam is the state religion have undergone extensive reforms goes to establish that the practice in question cannot be regarded as integral to the practices of Islam or essential religious practices," argued the government in an affidavit filed on October 7.

Referring to the changes in the personal law that have already taken place in Islamic countries, the government has cited the instances of changes in marriage laws in Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

"It is noteworthy that even theocratic states have undergone reforms in this area of the law and therefore in a secular republic like India, there is no reason to deny women the right available under the constitution,"  stated the affidavit.  

The response comes in the wake of an order issued by the apex court  on September 5, wherein the court had asked the government to spell out its position on the rights of Muslim women in matrimonial matters relating to divorce and maintenance, including triple talaq.

An apex court bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel had by their October 16, 2015 order, issued notice to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and the National Legal Service Authority as it directed the separate listing of a PIL addressing the question of the rights of Muslim women.

The government said that the question of triple talaq, where husbands can summarily divorce their wives by pronouncing the word 'talaq' thrice, 'nikaah halaal' under which a divorced couple cannot remarry unless the woman marries again and becomes single again through divorce or death of the second husband, and polygamy needs to be considered in the light of the "principle of non-discrimination, dignity and equality".