The All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief, Badruddin Ajmal, on Thursday said the Triple Talaq Bill -- cleared by the Parliament in the Budget Session -- was BJP's publicity stunt designed to humiliate the Muslim community in India.
Speaking to the media at the Assam Secretariat in Guwahati, the Dhubri MP said the government should, instead, work towards the development of women in the real sense.
“I can’t accept this… no one can accept this. This is to criminalise the people through a civil court. Talaq is a different thing. There is an Islamic law to take care of it.
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"You can’t force a woman to be with someone, can you? The Muslims in India are the most backward community as per the Sachar committee report, he said.
"Why doesn't the government take any steps towards addressing this? They are shouting in the parliament as they are getting the publicity. They don’t have the will to work towards the upliftment of the Muslims in India,” Ajmal said.
On Thursday, President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Triple Talaq Bill passed by Parliament, turning it into a law which makes the practice of instant divorce among Muslims a punishable offence.
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The new law — The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 — makes talaq-e-biddat or any other similar form of talaq having the effect of instantaneous and irrevocable divorce pronounced by a Muslim husband void and illegal.
The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha with 99 votes in favour and 84 against, as the ruling NDA, which lacks majority in the upper house, was helped by the absence of some members of the opposition Congress, SP and BSP as well as six members of Telangana Rashtra Samithi and two MPs of YSR-Congress.
Citing the "much higher" rate of divorce among Hindus, Ajmal asked if the government was doing anything for the Hindu women as well.
“Among the Hindus, the rate of divorce is 68 percent while among the Muslims, it’s only 26 percent. Take care of both. Why only Muslims? You (government) have made it a law. Let’s see how it fares,” Ajmal said.
He termed BJP anti-Muslim and said the government had failed to do any development for the community.
