Hyderabad: Strongly opposing the bill criminalising triple talaq, or instant divorce, which was passed by Lok Sabha recently, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has decided to challenge it before the Supreme Court.
Scholar and Secretary of AIMPLB Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani has said that the board had done everything possible to persuade the government against going ahead with the bill. “If it is passed in the Rajya Sabha too, then the board will challenge it in [the] Supreme Court as it is a blatant intervention [of] [Sharia], against the spirit of the Constitution of India and was against the interest of women,” he said.
He expressed confidence that the judiciary will agree with the views of AIMPLB on the issue. He urged the Muslims to remain united and not to fall prey to propaganda aimed at creating differences and confusion within the community.
“Muslims should remain united and foil any attempt to weaken the board, which is a body representing the entire community,” he said.
Rahmani also advised Muslims against taking any action on their own, calling on them instead to wait for the guidance of the board in the matter. He rejected the criticism that the board had failed in effectively dealing with the bill and said that board had approached all the opposition parties and MPs including the Muslim MPs and presented its views before them.
“What happened on December 28 in Lok Sabha was more painful than the tragedy which happened on December 6, 1992, in Ayodhya,” he said. “In Ayodhya a mosque was demolished but now in Lok Sabha a stupid attempt was made to weaken the foundation of Sharia,” he said.
He cautioned that the bill was against the interest of women as it will lead to [the]abandoning of wives. “It will be more problematic for women as a wife will have to first prove in the court that her husband had given her triple talaq to send him to jail. And a jailed husband will not give her divorce, leaving her fate hanging in [the] balance, and she will not be able to remarry,” he said.
