With the Supreme Court scrapping the over 150-year-old law criminalising adultery, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen Party (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has asked the Centre to take back the unconstitutional ordinance on Triple Talaq. In a tweet, the AIMIM chief said, “The Supreme Court didn’t say Triple Talaaq is Unconstitutional but “set it aside“ but Apex Court has said 377 & 497 is Unconstitutional will Modi Government learn from these judgments and take back their Unconstitutional Ordinance on Triple Talaaq.(sic)”
In a separate tweet, the Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad further pointed to recent judgements by the Supreme Court on Section 377 and Section 497 and asked why triple talaq had to be made a criminal offence. “s377 now s497 decriminalised BUT Triple Talaaq has Penal Provision (criminalise) Kya Insaaf hai MITRO aapka, what will BJP do.”
In a landmark judgment earlier today, the top court struck down the anti-adultery law and ruled that it was no longer a criminal offence. A five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and comprising Justice RF Nariman, Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Indu Malhotra ruled that unequal treatment of women invites the wrath of the Indian Constitution.
Reading out the judgement, CJI Dipak Misra said that equality is the governing principle of a system. The court further said that a husband is not the master of his wife.
The historic judgment was also welcomed by National Commission of Women chief Rekha Sharma. Sharma said that this should have been removed a long time ago. Speaking to PTI, Sharma said, “This is a law from the British era, although British had done away with it long back, we were still stuck with it,” she said. Her views were echoed by many lawyers and activists.”
The AIMIM president also called the ‘Triple Talaq ordinance’ as a fraud. Speaking to ANI, Owaisi said, “My opinion is that Triple Talaq ordinance should be challenged in Court because it’s a fraud. In the first page of the ordinance, govt says that the Supreme Court has termed it unconstitutional but SC didn’t say any such thing rather it had just set it aside.”
On September 19, 2018, soon after the Union Council of Ministers approved an ordinance on the Triple Talaq bill, Owaisi called it as “unconstitutional and against Muslim women.” The Lok Sabha MP also asked AIMPLB (All India Muslim Personal Law Board) and women organisations to challenge the judgment in the Supreme Court. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government approved the ordinance after it failed to table the Triple Talaq Bill in the Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon session of the Parliament.