Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has opposed the Triple Talaq bill tabled in Lok Sabha by calling it discriminatory after being tabled in Lok Sabha on Friday (21 June).
Tharoor while speaking in Parliament said that the government should bring in an uniform law and not introduce a law that specifically targets Muslim men.
He said, "Men from other religions also desert their wives and there is no procedural safeguards in the bill, refer it to a standing committee...it is a discriminatory bill. The bill does nothing to improve the status of Muslim women”.
Prior to the Lok Sabha polls, the bill which calls for the protection of the rights of Muslim women was stalled in the upper house of parliament and eventually lapsed.
However, after BJP’s victory, the bill was again introduced in the Lok Sabha today (21 June).
The opposition has called the bill "discriminatory" against Muslim men but the government has countered it by citing the Supreme Court's order banning the controversial Islamic practice, and has added that it needs to be followed up with a strong law passed by the Parliament which is the true representative of the people.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said after introducing the bill in the Lok Sabha “There have been triple talaq since 2017 even after the judgement. What should the women do? Hang the judgement on the wall?"
He further elaborated that even after the Supreme Court's judgment striking down this regressive Islamic practice, over 200 cases of instant Triple Talaq have been reported across the country.
Speaking in Parliament Prasad said, "the rights of Muslim women will be protected. It is about justice and empowerment of women. People have chosen us to make laws. It is our work to make laws. Law is to give justice to the victims of Triple Talaq,"
Protection of Rights on Marriage Bill, 2019 will replace the ordinance issued in February by the previous BJP-led NDA government since the bill had failed to clear the Rajya Sabha test earlier.
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi too opposed the Triple Talaq bill by calling it unconstitutional and a grave injustice to Muslim women.
