August 2019

8 August 2019
ASIA
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
BJP manages passage of Triple Talaq bill in RS
New Delhi : A historic legislation,
which criminalises
instant Triple Talaq among
Muslims, got Parliament's nod
on Tuesday, with the government
saying it will provide
much-awaited relief to the
women of the minority community
by ending the "archaic
and medieval" practice.
Scrapping of the practice has
been one of the main planks of
the BJP, whose government at
the Centre led by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, promulgated
a number of
Ordinances after failing to get
the legislation through the
Rajya Sabha where it lacked
adequate numbers.
The Muslim Women
(Protection of Rights on
Marriage) Bill, 2019 was tabled
in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday
and was passed by 99-84 votes
after a few hours of discussion
and negation of a demand for
sending it to the Select
Committee for proper scrutiny
as well as a host of amendments
moved by the
Opposition members.
An Opposition motion to
send the bill to a Select
Committee was defeated by 84-
100 votes.
The proposed law makes
declaration of triple talaq a cognizable
offence, attracting up to
3 years' imprisonment with a
fine. Under the proposed law, a
Muslim woman against whom
talaq has been declared, is entitled
to seek subsistence
allowance from her husband
for herself and also for her
dependent children. A Muslim
New Delhi-Family members
of the Unnao rape victim, in a
letter to Chief Justice of India
(CJI) Ranjan Gogoi on July 12
had stated that the kin of
accused threatened them to settle
case otherwise they would
be implicated in false cases.
The victim's mother, sister and
aunt alleged they were being
woman, against whom triple
talaq is uttered, is entitled to
seek custody of her minor children.
Members of a number of
parties boycotted voting, benefitting
the government in the
Upper House where the ruling
BJP-led NDA does not have the
majority. BJP's ally Janata Dal-
United also abstained from the
proceedings.
The bill was passed by the
Lok Sabha last week. It will
become the law after President
Ram Nath Kovind signs the
bill. During the debate on the
bill, most of the Opposition
parties objected to the provision
for imprisonment of a man
who utters the word 'talaq'
thrice to divorce his wife, asking
who would look after the
family if the erring male is sent
to jail. Replying to the debate,
Law Minister Ravi Shankar
Prasad countered the
Opposition criticism on making
Triple Talaq a cognizable
constantly threatened by the
men of the accused Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) MLA
Kuldeep Singh Sengar. They
sought action against the kin of
accused and lodged a case
against them for threatening
them. "Accused Shashi Singh's
son Naveen Singh, Kuldeep's
brother Manoj Singh and
offence and said nobody questioned
the penal provisions
when the Hindu Marriage Act
of 1955, Dowry Act of 1961
and section 498A of the Indian
Penal Code were brought.
He said when Hindu
Marriage Act was brought, it
was said that the age of the
bridegroom should be 21 while
the bride would be 18. A twoyear
jail term was provided for
those violating the law. At that
time, it was not said that it will
disturb the married life.
Further, the law provided
that a marriage will be void in
case a person went for remarriage
even as he or she had their
spouse. Prasad insisted that the
proposed law had nothing to do
with religion but was only
meant to do away with a social
evil, which has already been
done in many Islamic countries.
Quoting a book by an
Islamic scholar, the minister
said if Prophet Mohammed disapproved
triple talaq centuries
Unnao rape victim's family had
written to CJI about threat
Kunnu Mishra along with
two others visited the victim's
house on July 7," the
letter read. The victim's
family stated in the letter
they told them that they
had bribed the judge and
secured the bail for Shashi
Singh and Kuldeep Singh.
The letter also said on
July 8, Shashi Singh's husband
Haripal Singh came
to the victim's house and
again threatened them.
They also attached photograph
of Haripal Singh
marking his presence at
their residence and visual
of car to support their complaint.
On Sunday, the rape
victim, who had accused
Kuldeep Sengar of raping
her in 2017, was travelling to
Rae Bareli with her lawyer
Mahendra Singh and two relatives
when a truck hit them.
Both the rape victim and the
lawyer have been on life support
since the accident while the
two other woman in the car,
including one who was a witness
to the crime, died.
back, "why are we in 2019
debating whether it is right or
wrong?"
Earlier, while participating
in the discussion, Leader of
Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad
opposed the bill and demanded
it be referred to a Select
Committee so that each provision
could be duly analysed and
vetted.
The Congress leader said the
bill was politically motivated
and there was nothing in the
bill for protection of Muslim
women, for their subsistence
allowance and their children.
He also took on the Law
Minister for "selectively" quoting
Supreme Court orders. He
said the government should
also bring legislation on mob
lynching as the same direction
has come from the apex Court
in the wake of rising violence
against the minority community.
Javed Ali Khan of
Samajwadi Party, while opposing
the bill, said there were
women in the country who
have been abandoned by their
husbands and there are many
famous and renowned persons
among them. "I want to know if
government is planning to
bring any law to ensure the
abandoned wives receive
allowance from these husbands,"
he asked. BJP leader
Bhupender Yadav objected to
his remarks, saying allegations
cannot be levelled against any
person if not convicted by a
court. A Navaneethakrishnan of
AIADMK also opposed the bill
terming it unconstitutional,
arbitrary and illegal. "It is not
Triple Talaq bill passed by Parliament
New Delhi : The Bill outlawing Triple Talaq was on Tuesday
passed in the Rajya Sabha. The Muslim Women (Protection of
Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, was tabled in the upper house
for debate and passage by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad,
who said that though the practice had been banned in many
Islamic countries, India had not done so despite being a secular
nation. The Bill, which criminalises the practice of instant
divorce among the Muslim community, has already been passed
by the Lok Sabha.
sustainable under law... I
humbly submit to this House
that Parliament has no legislative
competence to entertain it,"
he said demanding, scrutiny of
the bill by a Select Committee.
Trinamool Congress member
Dola Sen also demanded
that the bill be sent to a Select
Committee. "We are all for
women empowerment. We are
all for women's rights. Two
things -- one, just remove the
criminality clause. Two, don't
mock the Parliament by passing
this bill today. Send this bill
to a Select Committee," she
said. BJP's Saroj Pandey said
that all those supporting triple
talaq are against women.
T.K.S. Elangovan of DMK
said he welcomed the SC order
on the triple talaq, "but I
strongly oppose the bill introduced
because it is faulty and
government has failed to
New Delhi : A man from Delhi has complained
to the police that he has been receiving
hundreds of phone calls from fans of
Bollywood actress Sunny Leone after his number
was used
in her recent
movie 'Arjun
Patiala'. So far
he has
received hundreds
of calls.
The callers
tell him that
they want to
talk to Sunny
Leone. He
tried to convince
them
that it is not
her phone
number.
It all started
with a scene from the recently-released film
'Arjun Patiala' where the character played by
Leone shares her phone number with another
character in the film.
The victim, 27-year-old Puneet Agarwal, a
resident of Pitampura, has been receiving
innumerable calls and messages since July
understand that the Court has
only made triple talaq as
unlawful and not divorce per se
as unlawful". The Biju Janata
Dal supported the bill but asked
the ruling party as to why it
opposed the judgement on
Sabarimala if it wanted to
empower women.
Party member Prasanna
Acharya said the bill says the
offence of triple talaq would be
made cognizable if the information
is given by the victim or
any person related to her by
blood or marriage but it can be
misused. Congress member
Digvijaya Singh expressed
reservation on the manner in
which the bill was brought and
pointed out that government
had not consulted the Muslim
community on the issue. The
key NDA ally JD-U staged a
walk-out soon after discussion
started on the bill.
Man gets calls asking
for Sunny Leone
26 when the movie was released.
"On July 26, after the release of the movie, I
started receiving calls from unknown people
asking me to let them talk to Sunny Leone.
Initially, I
thought somebody
is playing
a prank on
me, but after a
while, I got to
know that the
makers of the
movie have
actually used
my number
and Sunny
Leone's character
in the
movie dictates
my number,"
said Agarwal.
Agarwal is
now thinking about taking the makers of 'Arjun
Patiala' to court.
"I am being harassed by many callers, people
are abusing me and asking me to do dirty
favours. I have filed a police complaint but till
now the police has not taken any action even
after giving me assurances," he added.