Hyderabad: MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi asked why the Union government wanted to criminalise triple talaq when the apex court has decriminalised homosexuality and adultery.
Opposing the triple talaq Bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Mr Owaisi asked who would give maintenance to the woman when her husband is in prison. The Bill was later passed.
Mr Owaisi said the Bill was contrary to Articles 14, 21, 15, 26 and 29 of the Constitution and against the fundamental rights. He mocked the government saying “you are go-ing to build a new India.”
“You are allowing a man to continue his atrocity on his wife. In Islam a person pronounces a single divorce to his wife, and the marriage will be annulled after three months,” he said.
The Bill rested the burden of proof on the shoulders of the woman. He asked if it was possible for a woman to arrange a witness in her favour from the house of her husband. He asked whether a husband would provide maintenance while in prison. “Should a woman wait for three years for her husband to return from jail,” he asked. “Who will be ready to live with a woman who has sent him to jail.”
He maintained that the Bill did an injustice to women. “She should be given an opportunity to be free from the knot of marriage,” he said.
Mr Owaisi said the Bill provided that the magistrate may grant bail only after hearing the woman, while in a murder case the magistrate does not hear the victim. Granting bail is at the discretion of the magistrate who decides on the basis of the arguments of the prosecution.
