Even after three years of the passage of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is yet to reach a consensus to insert a prohibition on instant triple talaq in the model nikahnama to be used for solemnising Muslim marriages.
The wedding contract remains a work under process. There is no clear word when, if at all, such a nikahnama would be finalised. The amended nikahnama will be sent across to the country to qazis who solemnise Muslim marriages. The AIMPLB had taken a pledge to insert a prohibition on instant triple talaq in the model nikahnama.
An AIMPLB meeting earlier this month failed to reach a consensus on the contents of the new model nikahnama. Though there was large agreement on the need to insert a clause against instant triple talaq after the Supreme Court made it invalid and Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 made it a criminal act. The AIMPLB members suggested that a clause on Talaq-e-Tafweez or delegated divorce needed to be inserted.
Under Talaq-e-Tafweez, the husband vests his power to divorce in his wife, thereby effectively ruling out hasty or instant talaq. However, many intellectuals of the Hanafi sect did not agree, leading to a fresh failure to draft the new nikahnama.