The Supreme Court today tagged a fresh petition challenging the criminalisation of Triple Talaq along with other petitions that are pending before it on the same issue.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra tagged the matter with other pending PILs on the identical question of law. The bench asked the lawyer to appear before the hearing of the tagged cases.
The lawyer who appeared for the petitioner contended that the provisions for punishment of a Muslim husband conducting triple talaq were anti-men and violative of their rights. The Chief Justice of India asked the advocate appearing for the petitioner how the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 was violative of the rights of men.
To this, the advocate responded that it criminalizes triple divorce and that Section 3 and 4 of the act are contrary to each other. The Section 3 of the 2019 Act provides Talaq to be void and illegal, whereas the punishment for pronouncing Talaq under Article 4 prescribes imprisonment of the divorcing husband for a period of 3 years along with a fine.
The top court in August 2019 issued notice to the Union on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the 2019 Act. Samastha Kerala Jamiathul Ulama, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, Muslim Advocates Association (Andhra Pradesh) lodged the previous petition.
The petitioners had mentioned that the Act has introduced penal legislation, specific to a class of persons based on religious identity. It added that the Act is causative of grave public mischief, which, if unchecked, may lead to polarization and disharmony in society.
The plea stated that marriage as per Islamic Law was a civil contract and Talaq was a mode to repudiate the contract. Hence, the imposition of criminal liability for a civil wrong was in clear violation of the Fundamental Rights of Muslim men, it noted.