Triple talaq: Verdict to be out by 10:30 am, India waits with bated breath

Triple talaq, widely practised in India, is a form of unilateral oral divorce to Muslim women by their husbands.

A five member bench led by Chief Justice of India, Justice JS Khehar will deliver the verdict related to the case. The panel of five judges have representation different different  faiths - Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.

The five-judge bench comprises of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice Kurian Joseph, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice S Abdul Nazeer.

The top court reserved its decision since the hearing concluded in May.

The matter was taken up by the top court in 2015 followed by a separate listing of PIL pertaining to the rights of Muslim women.

Muslim women had long been demanding that the triple talaq practice be banned and they are given their Koranic rights.

Spearheading the campaign to end triple talaq or polygamy in the Muslim society is  Zakia Soman, the 50 plus co-founder of Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA, the other founder of which is Noorjehan Safia Niaz).

While the petitioner in the case from which the landmark verdict is awaited is 36-year-old Shayara Bano, it is Zakia's BMMA which nourished the campaign to see discontinuance of triple talaq.

Shayara Bano's lawyer Balaji Srinivasan was quoted in media saying that "we told the court that the practice has no basis in the law or in the Quran."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier said he would try to give justice to the Muslim women even though some Muslim bodies  like the Muslim Law Board has opposed it.

"If the Muslim Law Board had given us our Koranic rights, the question of BJP's hand in the campaign would not have arisen. The BJP is in power in the past three years only and it is only that they have responded appropriately on the issue by filing an affidavit in the court when asked," said Soman.

BMMA had surveyed many Muslim women on the issue for a long time now.  In a report by them which carries case studies of 117 Muslim women who have been victims of “triple talaq”, it was shown that 92.1% Muslim women want this biased system of verbal triple talaq to be abolished.

Soman said they want the  use of the ‘talaq-e-ahsan’ method, under which at least four attempts at reconciliation are made before a divorce is granted.

In an earlier interview to IBNS, BJP Spokesperson Nalin Kohli had said: "The issue of triple talaq is not political. Article 14 of Indian Constitution guarantees equality for all. Now the question is can a woman be treated unequally, can practice of faith be higher of constitutional guarantee (of equality for all). "

"Triple Talaq has been banned by most Islamic countries in the world including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan in the SAARC region. There is an overwhelming demand from Muslim women to end this practice of gender injustice," he said.

All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), however, said India is a nation of diverse cultures and different religions and personal laws of all these groups are derived from their religious texts or scriptures and it has unique relevance in their cultural identity.

"Therefore any kind of interference in this is not only a violation of religious freedom enshrined in the constitution but will put an end to their unique cultural identity," it said.   

Faisal Khan, the leader of Khudai Khidmatgar, a liberal Muslim group, said: "Let the Muslim women decide the issue."

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