If voted to power, we will scrap Triple Talaq Bill: Sushmita Dev

February 7: The Congress will strike down the proposed law against the “triple talaq” instant divorce practice if it wins the upcoming national elections. This was said by Congress MP and All India Mahila Congress President Sushmita Dev. “I promise you that Congress will form government in 2019 and we will repeal this triple talaq law. This is a promise,” said MP Dev. The triple talaq law criminalises the Muslim practice of instant divorce.

The bill turns instant #TripleTalaq into a crime. The law is not only meant to cause families distress by imprisoning the man for words that the SC had dismissed as ineffectual anyway, but also aims at the criminalizing a civil matter @sushmitadevmp #MeraSamvidhaanMeraSwabhiman pic.twitter.com/HhxyIB39ST

— All India Mahila Congress (@MahilaCongress) February 7, 2019

Speaking at the Minority Department National Convention in Delhi, MP Sushmita Dev made this statement on Thursday in the presence of AICC President Rahul Gandhi. Ms. Dev further said, “Many people told us that this law is for the empowerment of Muslim women but we opposed it because it is a weapon used by BJP against Muslim men so that he could be harassed by the police.”

"In the name of empowerment govt has given nothing but criminal case to women.The real purpose of the bill is not to empower Muslim women but to 'penalise' men.We thank all the Muslim women who wrote to us and we won't let you down "- @sushmitadevmp at @AICC Minority Convention pic.twitter.com/rxmn21hitO

— All India Mahila Congress (@MahilaCongress) February 7, 2019

In December 2018, a bill to make instant triple talaq a penal offence was introduced in Lok Sabha to replace an ordinance issued in September. Under the proposed law, instant triple talaq will be illegal and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP hit back at the Congress and said their stand was nothing but “minority appeasement”. They have no regard for the Supreme Court,” said BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. Calling instant divorce unconstitutional in August last year, the Supreme Court had asked the government to frame a new divorce legislation.

The opposition has said divorce cannot be made a penal offence and the provisions of the bill are against basic principles of the constitution. In return the BJP has commented this stand of the Congress as an ‘appeasement move’ before the 2019 general election.