Centre defends law against triple talaq, says it ‘legitimised and institutionalised abandonment’ of Muslim women

Centre defends law against triple talaq

Highlights:

• Backing the triple talaq law, the Centre has told the Supreme Court that the Act “helps in ensuring the larger constitutional goals of gender justice and gender equality of married Muslim women and helps subserve their fundamental rights of non-discrimination and empowerment.”
• The Centre said this in response to an affidavit filed earlier this month in response to a plea by the Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulema, which sought a declaration that the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, is unconstitutional and violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, and 123 of the Constitution.
• The Union Government contended that “when” the SC itself had set aside the practice of talaq-e-biddat “and if such an act is declared to be an offense punishable under law…”, the court “ought not to interfere into the legislative enactment of making punishable such a manifestly arbitrary act which is already declared under law to be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution”.

Prelims takeaway:

• Triple talaq
• Article 14, 15, 21, and 123