The triple talaq Bill is hasty, cruel

Apart from this, it is also an attempt to interfere with Muslim personal law. "It is highly objectionable that the Centre did not consult the AIMPLB, any Muslim organisation or any stakeholder before preparing the draft", he said.

Nomani, during a press conference in Lucknow, said that the triple talaq bill is against both Muslim women and the Shariat.

"If the government feels it is very important, it should first talk to the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Muslim women organisations", he said.

Perhaps this is the ulterior motive behind the Bill, and not, as the government claims, "gender justice and gender equality of married Muslim women".

Section 3 gives statutory recognition to the Supreme Court's ruling in the Shayara Bano case, by mandating that any pronouncement of talaq by a person upon his wife, by words, either spoken or written or in electronic form or in any other manner whatsoever, shall be void and illegal.

He said that since the Supreme Court struck down the practice of instant triple talaq, almost 66 cases of husbands divorcing their spouses through this method were reported.

"By recommending jail for a man pronouncing (the instant) triple talaq, the Centre is depriving a woman of her means of subsistence after divorce".

He said the terms of the proposed Bill also encroach upon the guarantees given in the Constitution to religious denominations, as well as go against the essence of the Supreme Court judgment on August 22 that banned instant triple talaq. "If this bill becomes a law, then women will face a host of difficulties". "The government should have consulted scholars of Islam before drafting the controversial bill".

Senior woman member of the board Asma Zehra said: "The Bill is against the interests of Muslim women".

Jafaryab Zilani, the convener of the board, was quoted as saying at the meeting that the bill violated the freedom of religion enshrined in the Constitution.

The triple talaq Bill removes this much needed layer of judicial oversight when it comes to Muslim men, for by making the offence cognizable, it gives police officers the power to conduct an investigation without bringing it to the notice of the concerned magistrate forthwith.

"What is most glaring is that a man will be arrested on a complaint from a third party even if the wife accepts the (instant) triple talaq pronounced on her by her husband".