India’s Muslims have mixed feelings about Supreme Court ruling on ‘triple talaq’

Photo: A Muslim bride looks on as she waits for the start of a mass marriage ceremony in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad March 21, 2015. A total of 112 Muslim couples from various parts of Ahmedabad on Saturday took wedding vows during the mass marriage ceremony organised by a Muslim voluntary organisation, organisers said. REUTERS/Amit Dave

Some are angry that community leaders have not taken up cudgels against the practice; others feel it does not go far enough and address financial issues

India’s Muslim community has broadly welcomed the Indian Supreme Court’s ruling putting the brakes on the practice of ‘triple talaq’ for six months, but many feel that this should have been implemented by the community itself taking into account the hardships on women by ‘instant divorce’.

Under the triple talaq practice, a man can irrevocably divorce his wife by simply uttering the word ‘talaq’ three times in one session even in her absence, without citing any reasons. While it has been considered legal and binding, it is not, however, the most widely followed method. Other judicial and non-judicial forms include practices under which divorce is granted after three separate sessions with at least a month’s gap between each. This and other types of processes provide the couple the opportunity to reconcile or revoke the divorce before the process is complete. Women also have the right to divorce, in some conditions unilaterally, under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, VIII of 1939.