Not a single case of triple talaq has come for hearing before the Bhopal Qaziyat (Islamic Court) during the past-one-and-a-half year while interestingly the number of women seeking khula (a procedure through which a woman can divorce her husband in Islam) is substantially higher than the men looking to divorce during the same period. Bhopal Qaziyat covers three districts Bhopal, Sehore and Raisen.
According to the information provided by the office of the Masajid Committee Bhopal, 459 women sought khula while 386 men sought talaq in the year 2016 and the number of women seeking khula till March 31, 2017 was 131 while 80 men sought talaq during this period. Interestingly, there had not been a single case of triple talaq during the period.
At a time when the nation is very much concerned over talaq and right from the Supreme Court to the Prime Minister and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expressed their concern in their way, the picture coming from Madhya Pradesh Qaziyat is just opposite to the hysteria expressed over debates on national television channels.
Bhopal Shahar Qazi Syed Mushtaq Ali Nadwi while talking to The Pioneer over the issue said, "The imbalance between rights and duties is resulting in home breaking. Both men and women are responsible for this imbalance as both looks for their rights and forget their duties. The society must seriously think over this and both men and women should work to make balance between rights and duties in such a way that it should not result in ruining families."
Dr Sufiya Fatima Hussaini, a practising doctor of the city and member women wing of All India Muslim Personal law Board (AIMPlB) said Islam provides equal rights to women, in fact the right to accept groom is totally of the bride, without her consent nikah (marriage) could not get completed and like the men have the right to divorce the women, the women also have the right of khula to get separated from men. Cases of triple talaq are rare of the rarest and the Board has already formulated to deal with that, the Government and the courts are unnecessary interfering in Muslim Personal law that constitution has provided to the community, she added.
Notably, a five judge Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice JS Khehar, Justice Kurian Joseph, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, Justice Uday Umesh lalit and Justice S Abdul Nazeer wound up hearing in the case after six days on Friday, May 19 after a batch of petitions that challenged the constitutional validity of triple talaq and reserved its verdict.