After triple talaq, another landmark hearing on Muslim personal law dealing with Nikah Halala and polygamy is all set start in Supreme Court from July 20th. Just before the hearing, All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) made an absurd claim. It stated that the practice of Nikah-Halala “cannot be challenged since its quranic.” AIMPLB secretary and legal counsel Zafaryab Jilani said, “Nikah halala cannot be challenged.” He also added, “Nikah halala is a practice where you cannot marry your wife again after divorce unless she marries and consummates the marriage with someone else. It is a must that the wife is divorced again. This is as per the Quran and the board cannot have a different opinion.”
On the other hand, centre is set to oppose the practice of Nikah Halala and polygamy. It will extend its support to the petitioner when the matter would come up for hearing in the SC.
Nikah Halala is an outdated practice, wherein if a Muslim man divorces his wife then he cannot remarry her unless she weds another man who thereby divorces her. Only after she has been divorced by the new husband is she eligible to marry her former husband. Without getting into the technicalities of the rule, it is quite clear that it is blatant misogyny and disregard for women’s rights and opinions.
The law is under Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, and the petitioner, BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay has sought that the subject provision should be declared unconstitutional. Upadhyaya has prayed in her petition that the law is violative of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the constitution. The affidavit filed by Mukulita Vijayawargiya, Additional Secretary in the Ministry, said, “It is submitted that the issue of validity of triple talaq, Nikah Halala and polygamy needs to be considered in the light of principles of gender justice and the overriding principle of non-discrimination, dignity and equality”. The reply filed by the government during the triple talaq case had stated that “the fact that Muslim countries where Islam is the state religion have undergone extensive reform goes to establish that the practices in question cannot be regarded as integral to the practice of Islam or essential religious practices”.
It is a matter of shame for Indians that something like triple talaq was banned in Pakistan much before the issue came up in the mainstream Indian politics.
Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) also decided to join the petitioner who is fighting to put an end to Nikah Halala and Polygamy. Zakia Soman of BMMA told TOI, “We are seeking a comprehensive law regulating all aspects of marriage and family by a Quranic-based law that complies with the Constitution too. We want halala to be a criminal offence and polygamy to be a criminal offence and polygamy to be illegal. We believe the Quran doesn’t permit polygamy in today’s context. We are seeking legal protection like that for Hindu and Christian women.”
The Media should raise this issue more seriously. Such treacherous and misogynist practices have no place in the modern world. We cannot afford to live in barbaric times with archaic laws in the 21st century. For the sake of women’s rights, human rights and the dignity of Indians, such anachronistic laws cannot be left to operate within a secular and progressive nation.