Tirunelveli: The Islamic fraternity in this southern town of Tirunelveli displayed a mixed response to the new ‘Triple Talaq Bill’ that could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha on the last day of the winter session of Parliament on Friday. Not all Muslims blatantly oppose the proposed Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill widely known as ‘Triple Talaq Bill’, as do the Islamic outfits that outright protest the Bill.
Nisha MIsrikhan, mother of two children in Tirunelveli viewed the bill as a good start by the government towards empowering Muslim women, who otherwise are at the mercy of the local Jamaat in case of dealing with marital problems between husband and wife.
Working as a private school teacher, Nisha said that there must be a beginning and the present Bill though requiring some sections of it to be pruned, should not be blatantly opposed on political grounds.
It is really a surprise that an office-bearer of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in Tirunelveli views the proposed Bill a “blessing in disguise”.
Though he has strong reservation about a section that makes ‘instant Triple Talaq’ a cognizable offence, the SDPI office-bearer, who pleading anonymity (as his own party campaigns to scrap the bill), said that youth like him in the community are being viewed as “Protestants” within the Islamic fold by the conservatives in the community.
The utterance of instantaneous ‘Talaq’ thrice at a time, known as Talaq-e-Bidat is not proposed in our scripture and it is a later entry, he said, adding, that youth like him have been working against such conservative practices in the name of religion and hence are viewed as ‘miscreants’ by the people in their respective ‘Jamaats’.
Advocate Mr. Kamaraj reacting to the ongoing protest against the ‘Triple Talaq’ Bill said that many of the organisations have been misleading the common Muslims by portraying the proposed Bill as against Muslim Personal Law.
“The people should be clarified that the proposed Bill bans only ‘Talaq-e-Bidat’, which is irrevocable as it is being said at a time and not the other forms of ‘Talaq’, according to which three pronouncements of ‘Talaq’ are to be made in consecutive intervals of 30 days,” said the lawyer. He, however, added that if the Central government was really committed to the protection of Muslim women’s rights, it must remove the section that criminalises pronouncement of ‘instant Triple Talaq’ in the Bill as this section could create ample opportunities to be misused against Muslim men.
