India’s new policy on triple talaq: a hard-hit marriage-bias policy is now a jail sentence
What the cabinet decided
Why the political motive is in the mix
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he’s aiming to court “Muslim women voters.”
- He promised in an Independence Day address that he would not stop till justice is delivered to these women.
- Despite the Supreme Court ban, triple talaq still sees a handful of cases pop up in the courts.
Legislative background
The Supreme Court last August struck down a law that allowed Muslim men to divorce their wives by saying “talaq” three times.
Since then, the government has been hunting for a way to make the practice explicitly prohibited in the penal code.
Key player
Federal Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced at a news conference that the Cabinet’s order is approved because, well, the practice is still happening even when the court says it shouldn’t.
So while India moves to keep the “instant divorce” out of the books, the political party in power is juggling both justice and electoral math. It’s a complicated recipe, but perhaps a necessary one in the pursuit of a fairer society.
