The triple talaq Bill is likely to face hiccups in the Rajya Sabha after the Congress on Tuesday kept the Government guessing on its stand following demands by several Opposition parties to send the Bill to a Select Committee for review. The Government urged the Congress not to press for amendments to the Bill, which seeks to criminalise the practice of instant divorce among Muslims. The lok Sabha passed the Bill last week.
A meeting chaired by Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu in this regards saw number of Opposition parties advocating for a Select Committee review of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill. A major NDA ally, Shiv Sena, which in recent times have been vocal about the BJP Governments both at the Centre and States, too demanded the Bill be sent to a select committee.
The Opposition parties, including the SP, the BSP, the AIADMK, the DMK, the CPI, the CPI(M) and the BJD, have demanded detailed deliberations on the criminality clause, under which a man can be sentenced up to three years in prison for abandoning his wife through talaq-e-biddat or instant triple talaq. Tghe AIADMK and the BJD opposed the legislation in the lok Sabha.
Rejecting the Opposition demand, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said there is no need to go to any committee because the issue has been debated. Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi attacked the Congress for flip-flopping over its stance on the triple talaq Bill.
“There is a greater consensus within the country that there should be a stringent law, preventive mechanism to give protection to Muslim women. I am confident that all parties will cooperate in the Rajya Sabha,” Pradhan said.
The Congress has, however, played it safe and did not open its card during the course of consultation with other political parties. The Congress had moved amendments to certain provisions of the Bill in the lok Sabha but did not press for a vote.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said that the Government would like the Congress to maintain the stand it took in the lok Sabha by not pressing for amendments. “We are having continuous talks with the Opposition parties, including Congress. We have told Congress that since they have not pressed for any amendments in the lok Sabha, they should do the same in the Rajya Sabha,” Ananth Kumar told the media while announcing the Government may table the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury said her party always stood for empowerment of women, right since Independence, but the party needs to see what has been actually included in the Bill.
“There is no question of us not standing by anything that empowers women, but there black and white solution to this. We have to see how the debate evolves... What is actually included and how is it implementable... And until it is equitable for all women under all clauses of talaq. This is only talaq-e-biddat (triple talaq)”, Chowdhury said.
CPI leader and Rajay Sabha member D Raja said the left was in favour of referring the proposed legislation to the select committee but the Centre was deliberately blocking such attempts to prevent closer scrutiny of the Bill. “The BJP-led NDA Government is bypassing the committee system. They are saying ‘don’t send Bills to the Standing Committee for closer scrutiny’. When it comes to the Rajya Sabha, we will demand that it should be sent to the Select Committee,” said Raja.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, makes triple talaq -- the practice by which Muslim men divorce their wives by saying talaq three times -- a criminal offence punishable by up to three years in jail. The lok Sabha passed the Bill on December 28 without any disruption as the ruling BJP has the numbers to push legislation. The lower House passed the Bill after law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tabled it and Speaker Sumitra Mahajan held a voice vote for each clause.