Triple Talaq verdict a step forward for women’s rights in India: Amnesty

Responding to the same, Asmita Basu, Programmes Director at Amnesty International India said: “We welcome the Supreme Court judgment. Triple talaq is a discriminatory practice that violates women’s right to equality, and has devastated the lives of many Muslim women."

She said that the Supreme Court’s bar on this "regressive" practice is a step forward for women’s rights in India.

"We urge the government to repeal all religious family laws that violate women’s right to equality, without exception,” she said.

In a landmark victory for the Muslim women in India, who were fighting to scrap the practice of instant triple talaq, the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday said the practice is unconstitutional and illegal, and asked the country's government to legislate a law in Parliament.

In a 3:2 majority verdict, the apex court said Triple Talaq is unconstitutional and illegal since it is in violation of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution guaranteeing equality before the law.

It has thus been struck down in effect.

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 panel of five judges represent different faiths - Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.

The Supreme Court also put the ball in the court of the Indian government to frame a law to ban it. The Chief Justice of India JS Khehar gave his judgement while other judges pronounced their verdicts too.

The ruling was pronounced on a petition filed two years ago by Shayara Bano, a Muslim woman from Uttarakhand whose husband of 15 years sent her a letter with ‘talaq’ written three times on it and left her. Similar petitions filed by four other women were heard with Shayara Bano’s petition.