An overview on Triple Talaq

Triple talaq is a practice of Islamic religion, especially adopted by a Hannafi Sunni Islamic School
of jurisprudence, under which a Muslim man can divorce his wife by uttering the word talaq three
times in oral or written form. The pronouncement of divorce can be made even in the social media
such as whatsapp, skype, messenger or in the electronic form through the email or text message.
The practice of triple talaq is said to be have been around from the period of Caliph Umar, one of
the most powerful and influential Muslim caliphs, more than 1400 years ago. There are almost 55
majority Muslim countries around the world under which the Arab countries like Algeria, Egypt,
Jordan, Libya, Sudan, Morocco, UAE and the Southeast Asian countries such as Philippines,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Srilanka and India have abolished the triple talaq as a form of
divorce.
The procedure of talaq implies that when a man gives talaq to his wife, the three months of period
is considered as a waiting period under which the process of reconciliation or to confirm the
pregnancy of wife are taken into consideration. If the reconciliation cannot be sustained or the wife
is not pregnant following the three months it is considered to be divorced which ensures a right to
remarry. The method of talaq has not been properly entailed as the instance utterance of the word
talaq three times is considered to be divorce without having a waiting period. This creates a
situation of women being in a vulnerable position due to the result of instant talaq without having
any financial or emotional support. The arbitrary practice of talaq infringes the women rights in
both social as well as individual level.

In Nepal, the Muslims consist of 4% of total population who are regarded as socio-economically
disadvantage minority group. It has been provisioned that all forms of marriage including of
Muslim community can be registered to ensure the legality and are governed by the Muluki Civil
and Criminal Codes, 2074 of Nepal. In 2008, media reports highlighted the case of triple talaq
when hundreds of Muslim women in Nepalgunj district protested in the streets against this practice
as such an instant divorce lead to the problems such as cut off from financial support, cast out from
marital homes and others. The major problem in context of Nepalese society is that the registration
of Muslim marriage is not mandatory and the social stigma attached to divorce can lead to wrong
practices of divorce such as triple talaq which is not mentioned in any form in the rules and
regulations of Nepal but as guaranteed by the fundamental rights especially art. 18(3) and 30 would
not allowed to have such practices in Nepal.
In India, the custom of triple talaq was practiced until recent year which has been changed when
the Shayara Bano case was filed in 2016 that latter considered the practice of triple talaq as an un-
Islamic, arbitrary and unconstitutional by Supreme Court of India within 3-2 majority. Following
the Supreme court verdict of 2017, the law minister moved the bill immediately by making it as
criminal offence of with a three-year term jail which was then passed in Lok Shaba but could not
past a united opposition in Rajya Sabha. On July 25 of 2019, Lok Shaba passed the Muslim women
bill which is popularly referred as triple talaq bill and subsequently on 30 July, 2019 it has been
passed by the Rajya Sabha by 99 votes on its favor and 84 against it. Though, the various forms of
debates have been heated up in India regarding the matter of triple talaq, it has been celebrated as
one of the historic days for ensuring the rights of Muslim women.
The ongoing movement for equal rights to women has been functioning all over the world where
the Muslim women are still not in the equivalent position in matters of divorce too. The misuse
practice of talaq had led the women to be socially, economically and emotionally backward which
led to question that whether the movements regarding the women empowerment has been actually
able to restore the rights for every woman out there in the core level. Though it has been slowly
and steadily, the initiation taken by the number of states to out ruled the practice of triple talaq will
ensure the empowerment as well as equality to the Muslim women and also hopefully lead them
to live a life with their own choice and voice.