Govt to move Triple Talaq Bill in Rajya Sabha today

New Delhi, Feb 12: The BJP-led government at the Centre will move The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 or Triple Talaaq Bill in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will introduce the bill in the Rajya Sabha, reported ANI. The Budget Session of Parliament began on January 31 and would end on February 13.

The Triple Talaq Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in December last year. The opposition parties had then staged a walkout after the government refused to refer the bill to a joint select committee.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 seeks to make the practice of instant triple talaq a penal offence. On September 19, 2018, the Union Cabinet had passed the ordinance to amend provisions of the Triple Talaq Bill. It was later signed by President Ram Nath Kovind.

The triple talaq ordinance was re-promulgated in January this year as the revised triple talaq bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in the last session but could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha where the government lacks majority.

In August 2017, a five-judge constitution bench had set aside the centuries-old practice of instant triple talaq or talaq-e-biddat, through which Muslim men divorce their wives by uttering "talaq" three times in quick succession.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights of Marriage) Ordinance 2018 states that instant triple talaq has been made illegal and void, and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband. To prevent any misuse of the law, the government had also included certain safeguards, such as a provision of bail for the accused before trial.