AIADMK, DMK to oppose triple talaq bill in RS

The ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK in Tamil Nadu will oppose the contentious triple talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, days after it was adopted by the Lok Sabha, the parties said Sunday.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 seeking to criminalise the practice of instant divorce among Muslims is set to be tabled in the upper house of Parliament even as opposition parties including the Congress have said that they will not allow its passage in the present form.

"We oppose triple talaq bill," senior All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai said.

The AIADMK strongman from the western belt of the state said it was the stand of his party that the government should not "interfere" in religious matters.

"It is the duty of the AIADMK to safeguard the welfare of minorities. AIADMK will fully oppose this bill against our Muslim brothers," he told reporters here.

Dravia Munnetra Kazhagam leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Kanimozhi said her party had been consistent in its position against "criminalisation" of triple talaq.

"We are opposing jail punishment for pronouncing talaq. Even the Islamic tenets does not allow instant triple talaq," she said, adding that if violation of such tenets were to happen, it should not be made a criminal offence as it was a civil issue.

"We will vote against the bill in the Rajya Sabha and it is the stand of the DMK that it (bill) be referred to a Select Committee," she told reporters.

After the Supreme Court held instant triple talaq as unconstitutional last year, an ordinance was promulgated by the Centre prohibiting the practice.

The Lok Sabha adopted the bill on December 27 after a heated debate.