AIMPLB to seek support to get triple talaq bill stalled

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has pinned its hope on getting support from some BJP allies to stall the bill on instant triple divorce in the Rajya Sabha as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for its early passage in the ongoing budget session of Parliament on Monday.

To drum up support for the demand raised by the Congress that the bill should be referred to the select committee of Parliament, the Board members intend to meet BJP allies Shiv Sena and Akali Dal soon.

“A final decision on the strategy to be adopted to prevent the bill from getting passed in the Rajya Sabha would be taken at the forthcoming two-day session of the board in Hyderabad from February 10,” said board spokesperson Zafaryab Jilani.

“We met former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav last week to convey our stand on the issue. Besides Samajwadi Party, AIMPLB members have also met leaders of opposition parties like AIDMK, DMK, Telugu Desam, TMC and BSP,” he said. 

Besides it, discussions would also be held on Babri-Masjid-Ram Janambhumi case hearing which is scheduled to commence in Supreme Court on Fenruary 8. A controversy had erupted when senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, representing Sunni Waqf Board in the case, made a plea in the apex court to defer the hearing till Lok Sabha polls 2019. “Some members may want to know why such a statement was given,” said Jilani and added that while Sibal would continue to represent them, several other senior lawyers would also appear on behalf of the waqf board in the case. 

The Narendra Modi government brought in the bill criminalising instant divorce after Supreme Court struck down the practice terming it unconstitutional and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution on August 22 last year.

The ‘Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Bill’ criminalising talaq-e-biddat (instant divorce) was passed by the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded winter session of Parliament but is pending in the Rajya Sabha. The AIMPLB, which is the apex body of Muslims on religious issues, regards the bill as an interference in ‘shariate laws’ and maintains that it is also against the interests of women and children.

Consequently, the AIMPLB president Maulana Rabe Hasani Nadvi had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him not to table the bill in the Lok Sabha. “The Board had convened an emergency meeting to discuss the issue here at Nadwa College in Lucknow. But now we would apprise all our members at the annual general meeting in Hyderabad,” said Jilani.