After Triple Talaq, these Muslim practices are under the Center’s scanner

After the Triple Talaq, the Center has decided to take up arms against the Muslim practice of ‘nikah halala’ and polygamy.

Polygamy is the practice of having more wife’s that 1, while nikah halala is is a controversial practice which forbids a divorced couple from remarrying until the woman marries someone else, consummates her new marriage and gets divorced, observes a period of separation period called ‘iddat’ or widowed.

Although nikah halala is defended by the clergy, the woman activists have slammed the practice, calling it regressive, anti-women and have petitioned the Supreme Court to ban it

These Muslim practices will be opposed by the Center in the Supreme Court in the coming days, a senior Law Ministry functionary said on Friday.

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The government believes that the practice is against the principles of gender justice and had made its stand clear in the apex court on the issue, the functionary said. 

According to sources, the Center has decided to extend its support to the petitioners who oppose the nikah halala.

The Centre’s plan comes even as Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), a voluntary organisation which successfully petitioned the SC against instant talaq, has decided to join the petitioners who are seeking an end to nikah halala and polygamy.

Zakia Soman of BMMA said, “We are seeking a comprehensive law regulating all aspects of marriage and family by a Quranic-based law that complies with the Constitution too. We want halala to be a criminal offence and polygamy to be illegal. We believe the Quran doesn’t permit polygamy in today’s context. We are seeking legal protection like that for Hindu and Christian women.”

While the cases of triple talaq and nikah halala were together submitted to the Supreme Court, it was decided that the issues will be dealt separately and had taken up the case of triple talaq first.

Last year the apex court had banned the triple talaq, with a government bill on the same was passed in the Lok Sabha while it is still pending the Rajya Sabha.