Hyderabad, SEP 19 :
MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday described the proposed ordinance to make instant triple talaq a penal offence as “anti-Muslim women”, claiming it would lead to more injustice to them.
He demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi bring out a legislation to protect Hindu women deserted by their husbands.
Reacting to the Union cabinet clearing the ordinance against triple talaq, he told reporters here that in Islam, marriage was a civil contract and bringing penal provisions was “wrong and unnecessary”.
Under the proposed ordinance, giving instant triple talaq will be illegal and void and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband.
The Hyderabad MP also claimed that such an ordinance will violate fundamental rights and right to equality and expressed the hope that the Muslim Personal Law Board will challenge it in court.
“This ordinance is anti-Muslim women. This will lead to more injustice to Muslim women,” he claimed.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced the cabinet decision Wednesday, citing compelling necessity for the move as the practice annulled by the Supreme Court continues unabated.
“I cannot speak for the Muslim Personal Law Board but I hope this should be challenged in the courts of law,” Owaisi said. He demanded that the prime minister bring out a legislation to protect Hindu women deserted by their husbands.
“Prime Minister Modi this nation requires a law for those poor married women who are 24 lakhs according to 2011 census. They are married and their husbands in the election affidavit say they are married but their wives are not living with them,” he said.
Elaborating on his objection to the ordinance, he contended that a Muslim man found guilty by court would be sentenced to three years, whereas a non-Muslim man charged under a different Act for the same offence would only be sentenced for a year. “Is it not a violation of the Constitution?” he asked.
He claimed that the ordinance was aimed at diverting the people’s attention from issues such as rising petrol and diesel prices and dwindling value of rupee.
Owaisi said voters of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh and Telangana, where elections are to be held, “would reject BJP’s politics of polarisation”.
