Supreme Court to begin hearing on validity of triple talaq today

The Supreme Court will today commence its marathon hearing over a batch of pleas by Muslim women rejecting their religious convention of practicing triple talaq.

The hearings have been designated to a five-judge Constitution bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Jagdish Singh Khehar and four other judges, namely Justices Kurian Joseph, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Uday Umesh Lalit and S. Abdul Nazeer.

Relentless debates on the validity and plausibility of this practice were instigated soon after a petitioner, Shayara Banu, challenged the Muslim personal law over instantaneous triple talaq (talaq-e-bidat), polygamy and nikah-halala.

Supporting the stance of ending the practice of triple talaq, the Allahabad High Court earlier asserted that the rights of any person, including Muslim women, cannot be violated in the name of 'personal law'.

The court further said the basic and human rights cannot be exploited on the basis of gender.

"A Muslim husband cannot give divorce in such a manner which would put a question mark on equal rights," the court observed.

In December last year, the Allahabad High Court termed the Islamic practice of divorcing a woman by uttering the word "talaq" thrice as "unconstitutional".

The court further observed that the triple talaq practice sanctioned under Muslim Personal Law that governs marriage, property and divorce violates the rights of Muslim women.

"Triple talaq is unconstitutional. It violates the rights of Muslim women," ruled the High Court, adding that no personal law board was above the Constitution.