New Delhi [India], January 29 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought from the Centre an affidavit indicating total number of FIRs registered and charge sheet filed under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, which criminalises Triple Talaq and provides for a jail term up to three years for the husband.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar asked the Centre to apprise it about how many FIRs have been filed against Muslim men under the law and cases pending in the courts.
The bench asked all the parties in the case to file written submissions in the case and posted the matter for hearing in the week starting March 17.
At the outset, CJI Khanna asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Centre if he can apprise the court about the total number of FIRs registered in the country under the law and cases pending before courts.
Mehta said he will provide the details to the court.
Appearing for some petitioners challenging the law, senior advocate MR Shamshad said that FIRs are not registered for months in matrimonial cases and here by mere occurrence of words FIRs are filed.
“You throw a woman out of your life and house by mere occurence of the word…,” said Solicitor General.
Advocate Nizam Pasha also representing petitioners responded that the mere utterance of words has been criminalised and abandonment is also not a criminal offence for any other community.
“Triple Talaq is also not in other communities,” SG replied.
The CJI then said, “I am sure none of the lawyers here are saying that the Triple Talaq practice is correct, but what they are saying is that whether it can be criminalised when the practice is banned and no divorce can take place by uttering Talaq three times at once.”
The apex court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the 2019 Act.
Petitions were filed in the top court by politician and Islamic scholar Amir Rashadi Madni and two organisations — Samastha Kerala Jamaithul Ulema and Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind and others.
The petitioners also sought an interim stay on the law, which came into force on August 1, 2019 after receiving the presidential assent.
Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, a Kerala-based organisation of the Sunni Muslim scholars and clerics, in its petition had submitted that the Act is violative of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.
It had contended that the law could create “grave public mischief and may lead to polarisation and disharmony in society”.
The petitioner claimed the sole objective of the new law was “to punish Muslim husbands”.
The Centre had earlier filed affidavit in the case saying the state could resort to criminal law to preserve the sanctity of the institution of marriage.
“Triple talaq was not a private wrong done to one woman. It was a public wrong which militates against the rights of women and the social institution of marriage itself,” the government had said.
Triple talaq had ceased to exist from August 22, 2017, when the Supreme Court declared Triple Talaq void by its verdict. (ANI)
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