Lok Sabha OKs instant talaq bill for 3rd time

NEW DELHI: Disregarding the opposition's demand for further scrutiny by a select committee, Lok Sabha passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 which provides for a prison term of three years for Muslims males who may choose to practice the outlawed instant oral talaq.
This is the third time the Modi government has secured passage of the bill in Lok Sabha.On the two previous occasions, it ran into resistance in Rajya Sabha where the government lacks numbers. Although BJP-led NDA still does not have a majority in the upper House, the prospect of the bill going through seems brighter than before because of the improved strength of the treasury benches and BJP's enhanced ability post its resounding win to enlist the support of those parties which, while in the opposition, are not firmly aligned with Congress. The new-found strength was evident in its success on Thursday in pushing the RTI bill through Rajya Sabha despite determined resistance from Congress, Trinamool Congress and Left.
BJD's support for the bill can only boost BJP's optimism on early enactment of the law that was one of its main campaign promises. Significantly, while ally JD(U) opposed the bill saying the matter should be left to Muslims, it chose to walk out rather than join hands with Congress and other opponents of the bill. The government will benefit if Nitish Kumar's party takes the same route in Rajya Sabha.
The bill was passed by voice vote amid a walkout by Congress, Samajwadi Party, TMC and DMK among others.
Piloting the bill, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad brushed aside the opposition's criticism that the legislation was a device to polarise society and said despite the Supreme Court striking down oral talaq as illegal and unconstitutional, several hundred cases had been reported.
A combative Prasad, who projected the legislation as an important instrument for ensuring justice for Muslim women, rejected the demand by opposition parties for junking the provision for imprisonment. "When Hindus and Muslims are jailed under the dowry law or Domestic Violence Act, no one objects. Why should there be objection to the provision to penalise this practice?"
"I am the law minister of the Narendra Modi government and not of the Rajiv Gandhi government," said Prasad, adding, "This is not a question of religion, faith or vote, it is a question of 'nari samman' (women's dignity). It is about doing justice to women." He said the bill sought to ban only talaq-ebiddat or instant oral talaq and not other forms of divorce sanctioned under Muslim personal law.
A move by the opposition to stall the bill at the time of its consideration was rejected by a vote of 303 to 82. Several amendments moved by the opposition were also defeated. The clause in the bill which criminalises the practice with a jail term of up to three years for the husband was passed by avote of 302 to 78.