Congress has told the Law minister that it will support the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill if the government is willing to financially support Muslim women whose husbands will be sent to jail for pronouncing instant triple talaq, reported The Indian Express quoting sources.
Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hasn’t reportedly agreed to the demand.
The bill, which seeks to outlaw talaq-e-biddat or instant triple talaq and punish offenders, is held up in Rajya Sabha as the opposition parties has demanded that the bill be referred to a select committee. The Congress hasissued a whip to its 57 MPs in the Rajya Sabha to be present in the Rajya Sabha today, the last day of the winter session of Parliament. The bill is listed in the Rajya Sabha's agenda today.
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The bill, which has drawn criticism from several Muslim bodies, was passed in the Lok Sabha on December 28.
The proposed law, which makes talaq-e-biddat a “cognizable and non-bailable offence”, has provisions of “imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and fine” for any Muslim man who divorces his wife via instant triple talaq. It also provides for “subsistence allowance” to Muslim women and custody of minor children as “may be determined by the magistrate”.
But the moot point of the opposition parties, including the Congress, is that how will the man give subsistence allowance for his wife and son from jail.
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“Till the time a woman’s husband is in jail who is going to pay for the family maintenance? The government should have a provision that till the time the husband is incarcerated, the government should pay the women subsistence allowance. Let them do this, and we will support the Bill. But there is no such provision,” said Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad.
(With Agency Inputs)
