Triple talaq bill to be tabled in RS tomorrow; BJP issues whip to MPs

A landmark bill that makes instant "triple talaq" a criminal offence, cleared by the Lok Sabha, is scheduled to be tabled in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has even issued a three-line whip for all its MPs to remain present in Parliament on January 2 and 3.

The bill was passed with most of the leading parties in the Opposition, including the Congress party, voting in favour of the bill, but with caveats. It was passed after the House rejected a string of amendments moved by various Opposition members.

The bill may have been passed without any amendments in the lower house but a tougher numbers game in the upper house awaits the bill as the government lacks a majority and the opposition.

And if the Opposition insists on vetting the bill by a parliamentary panel, it will lead to delay and be passed only in the next session of parliament.

All the amendments moved by Asaduddin Owaisi, Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) Bhartruhari Mahtab, the Congress party's Sushmita Dev and the Communist Party of India's (Marxist) A. Sampath were negated in the Lower House of the Parliament.

The bill, if implemented into a law, will make Triple Talaq a criminal offense. It proposes a three-year jail term for a Muslim man who divorces his wife in any form of spoken, written or by electronic means such as email, SMS, and WhatsApp.

OneIndia News