The Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a fresh bill to ban the practice of instant triple talaq, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said.
The bill will be introduced in the Budget session ofParliament which begins on Monday to replace an ordinance issued in February bythe previous BJP-led NDA government.
With the dissolution of the 16th LokSabha last month, theprevious bill had lapsed as it was pending in RajyaSabha.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill,which made the practice of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) a penal offence,had faced objections from the opposition parties which claimed that jail termfor a man for divorcing his wife was legally untenable.
Javadekar said the proposed legislation is based on genderequality and is part of the government’s philosophy of ‘SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas,SabkaVishwas’ .
The new bill will be a copy of the ordinance in force andthe minister hoped that it will be passed “unanimously” byRajyaSabha, where the government lacks numbers.
Bills that are introduced in RajyaSabha and are pendingthere do not lapse with the dissolution of LokSabha.
However, bills passed by LokSabha and pending in RajyaSabhalapse with the dissolution of the lower house.
The government had promulgated the ordinance on triple talaqtwice — in September 2018 and inFebruary 2019 –. As the contentious bill remained pending in RajyaSabha,though it was passed by LokSabha.
Under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage)Ordinance, 2019, divorcing through instant triple talaq is illegal, void andwill attract a jail term of three years for the husband.
Seeking to allay fears that the proposed law could bemisused, the government has included certain safeguards in it such as adding aprovision for bail for the accused during trial.
These amendments were cleared by the Cabinet on August 29,2018. While the ordinance makes it a “non-bailable” offence, anaccused can approach a magistrate even before trial to seek bail.
In a non-bailable offence, bail cannot be granted by policeat the police station itself. A provision was added to allow the magistrate togrant bail “after hearing the wife”, the government had said.
In the first session of the 17th LokSabha, the newgovernment plans to convert 10 ordinances, including the one to ban thepractice of instant triple talaq, into law.
The ordinances were issued in February-March this year bythe previous government as these could not be converted into Acts of Parliamentin the last session of the 16th LokSabha.
Since the NarendraModi government returned to power in the recently held elections, it has decided to give a fresh push to these proposed laws in the newly-constituted LokSabha. These ordinances will have to be converted into laws within 45 days of the beginning of the session, else they will lapse.