By invitation: Talaq war won, but let's not be pawns in netas' hands

The Supreme Court has taken a historic step towards liberating Muslim women from the age old inhuman practice of  triple talaq (talaq uttered in one breath) and I welcome this. There is celebration over the judgement, but one needs to look closely at what it means in reality .

The judgement has clearly stated that triple talaq is un-Constitutional. This is different from previous debates on talaq that concentrated mainly upon the interpretation of religion, which  has  limitations as it  can have various versions. Which one to accept is always an issue . This can sometimes be of advantage to progressive forces,  but can also be used by the fundamentalists for their own purposes.

In a country like India, where there are many religions, if you  accept the principle of religious interpretations, people from all religions will demand  it and it will be impossible to provide justice to women. So the supreme criterion should be universal  human rights, which are enshrined in our Constitution and to which every  man and woman in this country is entitled to.  Accordingly, the emphasis should be on creating  laws that aim to attain  these  human rights and not what the religion prescribes or authorises.

This judgement is important because for the first time it upholds Constitutional values as the criterion to ban triple talaq.

Although religious  fundamentalists always argue that Article 25 of the Constitution provides freedom of faith and the government cannot create laws that violate it, the  title of the Article is "freedom of conscience"   and it is "subject to public order, morality and health."  This  is also a  matter of interpretation, however. Observing that triple talaq was part of Islamic personal practices followed by Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi school for 1,400 years  and arguing that it was covered by the  right to religion guaranteed by Article 25,  two of the Supreme Court judges in the present case, Justice Khehar and  Justice Nazeer  asked the state to consider making a law to enable scrapping of triple talaq. Their suggestion is worth noting and it is strange that our Law Minister is not considering the option of  making such a law,  arguing that the existing laws are sufficient.

There is always a lot of politics around issues of Muslim women in this country. When I did nation-wide surveys  and  talked to women from many states, I found they were marginalised within the marginalised and wanted equal rights, opportunities and social justice. But the political parties are only interested in using their issues as a  political plank.

Concepts like uniform civil code have for long been used by  fundamentalists from both sides and has now  become a tool for Muslim bashing .  In reality what is needed is a gender-just law not only for Muslims, but for all women in India. Instead of drawing up a credible draft for such a law, there is only political talk.  The present judgment bans only talaq - e -biddat,  that is saying talaq thrice at one go, but does not touch other forms of oral divorce. Things like halala, polygamy, property rights and maintenance are also issues  of concern and it will be impossible for Muslim women to go to court for each one of them as they arise. Instead , what we need is a comprehensive gender- just law covering such issues concerning women in the  Muslim community and also reviewing such practices affecting women of other communities.

From the implementation point of view , as the credentials of this government are tarnished by  incidents of mob lynching, cow vigilantism, and riots, like the ones in Muzaffurpur, there is a sense of fear in  the Muslim community, as noted by many, including the outgoing Vice President of the country.   The Muslim women for whom this judgement is a boon, cannot be happy while their own brothers, father and sons are subject to  attacks and are living in fear. During the three  years of this government , the concept of nationalism has been used for attacking its opponents on various pretexts. If you want to promote genuine reform in the community, there needs to be a peaceful environment , and that is precisely an issue now. Thus the ability of the present  government  to  nurture this transformation is a big concern and it needs to be seen how it performs on this front in future .
The writer is a social activist and educationist