Hyderabad: A 38-year-old man, identified as Mohammed Haneef, was arrested on Friday after he sent a postcard with ‘triple talaq’ to divorce his wife.
According to reports, the man has accused his wife of ‘ridiculing him’, while the police has charged him with ‘harassing’ his wife.
This is the first arrest related to the triple talaq practice, which has been challenged in the Supreme Court by Muslim women. Triple talaq allows Muslim men to get an instant divorce by saying the word ‘talaq’ thrice.
The arrest came a day after his wife lodged a complaint against him. Haneef married the 26-year-old woman on March 9. The couple reportedly fought after which the man drank mosquito repellent and had to be taken to hospital, following which he sent the ‘triple talaq postcard’.
Las week, the Supreme Court had said that Islamic practices of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy are issues that are "very important" and involve "sentiments", and had decided a Constitution Bench would hear petitions challenging these from May 11.
Influential Muslim organisations like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) have opposed court's adjudication of these matters, maintaining these practices stemmed from the Holy Quran and were not justiciable.
Several Muslim women have challenged the practice of triple talaq in which the husband, quite often, pronounces talaq thrice in one go, sometimes even by phone or text message.
Nikah Halala is a practice intended to curb incidence of divorce under which a man cannot remarry his former wife without her having to go through the process of marrying someone else, consummating it, getting divorced, observing the separation period called 'Iddat' and then coming back to him again.
A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud observed that "sentiments" were involved in the matter pending before it and a five-judge constitution bench would adjudicate the issue, which required a detailed hearing.
The apex court had earlier said it would decide issues pertaining to the legal aspects of the practices of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims but would not deal with the question whether divorce under Muslim law needs to be supervised by courts as it falls under the legislative domain.
The Centre had on October 7 last year opposed in the Supreme Court the practice of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds like gender equality and secularism.
On March 27, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) had told the apex court that pleas challenging such practices among Muslims were not maintainable as the issues fell outside the realm of judiciary.
The Board had also said that the validity of Mohammedan Law, founded essentially on the Holy Quran and sources based on it, cannot be tested on the particular provisions of the Constitution.
The Ministry of Law and Justice, in its affidavit, had referred to constitutional principles like gender equality, secularism, international covenants, religious practices and marital law prevalent in various Islamic countries to drive home the point that the practice of triple talaq and polygamy needed to be adjudicated
