The Muslim Women Rights Day is annually celebrated across India on 1st August to commemorate the enactment of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 which prohibits the practice of Triple talaq in India.
- 1st August 2022 marks the observance of 3rd Muslim Women’s Rights Day.
- The legislation declared that triple talaq as a criminal offence and the practice of triple talaq was prohibited,and muslim couples need to get divorce as per the Indian Penal Code.
Background:
i.The Triple Talaq bill, also known as the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, was passed by the Indian Parliament on 30th July 2019, to make instant Triple Talaq a criminal offence.
ii.Then President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the bill on 1st August 2019 and criminalised the instant oral triple talaq with a jail term of up to 3 years.
iii.The enactment of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 has classified the practice of granting instant divorce (triple talaq) as a criminal offence.
- The first ever Muslim Women Rights Day was observed on 1st August 2020.
Triple Talaq:
i.Talaq is an Islamic word for divorce, denoting dissolution of marriage when a Muslim man can sever all marital ties with his wife.
ii.Under Muslim law, Triple Talaq means liberty from the relationship of marriage, eventually or immediately.
iii.This instant divorce is called Triple Talaq, also known as ‘talaq-e-biddat’.
iv.The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937 legalised and allowed the practice of Triple Talaq which gave a Muslim husband special privileges over his wife.
Note:
i.Several Muslim majority countries across the world had declared the Triple Talaq as illegal and unIslamic. In 1929, Egypt became the first Muslim country to abolish the Triple Talaq law.
ii.The other nations that abolished this law were, Sudan(1929), Pakistan (1956), Bangladesh (1972), Iraq (1959), Syria (1953), and Malaysia (1969). Countries like Cyprus, Jordan, Algeria, Iran, Brunei, Morocco, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates(UAE) have also abolished this law.
