In a path-breaking verdict, the Supreme Court banned the 1,400-year-old practice of instant 'triple talaq' among Sunni Muslims on August 22. It was set aside on several grounds including that it was against the basic tenets of the Holy Quran and violated the Islamic law Shariat.
In an exclusive interview, Noorjehan Safia Niaz, co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan(BMMA), speaks to Outlook. BMMA was one of the 5 petitioners who went to the Supreme Court seeking to abolish triple talaq.
Here's the interview:
Your first thoughts on the Supreme Court judgment.
Definitely, it is a landmark judgment and unprecedented on several counts. Here we have five victims knocking at the door of the judiciary. BMMA was a petitioner which has more than one lakh members. And then for SC to say that it is unconstitutional, all this is unprecedented. Apart from this, it is also an assertion of citizens’ rights of Muslim women. We have been saying that for many years. That stand was confirmed by SC. I think that was crucial. Our study shows that more than 70% of divorces of those surveyed were unilateral – either through SMS or WhatsApp or a phone call. It will be a huge relief for Muslim women who have been victim to this practice.
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How does this move forward now?
The Supreme court has said that it needs to be legislated within six months. From what I understand is till that is framed, the Supreme Court judgment will serve as the direction and no divorces can be processed as per existing norms. So I think the reform process is headed in the right direction. We have been working for the codification of Muslim law and on a draft for years and it is ready since 2014. It addresses age of marriage, methods of divorce, it does not allow polygamy, halala (a woman is required to get married and divorced from another man if her former husband wishes to remarry her) or mutha marriage (temporary marriage system). We even address issues such as maintenance, custody of the child and all aspects of personal law. We will see how this can be taken to the Parliament.
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What were the ups and downs in this journey?
Easiest thing was to get the women on board. Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan became an agency that provided support to Muslim women from Muslim women. However, the clerics have brainwashed the community so badly that all this part of the religion. Especially many men would say the maulanas are right. We have received threats, obscene messages and personal attacks maligning our families, making allegations like we are propped up by the right wing. But a lot of people have been coming around for the past six months. The support has been growing.
Do you worry about the right wing bit or the concern that your struggle was hijacked by the government to their credit?
Some people said that we were playing in the hands of the government. But those are small numbers. There is no denying that there has been political dispensation for the first time. So we have to give them credit. What did the Congress do in 1986? Was that not playing in the hands patriarchal politics? As citizens we are opposing their anti-Muslim laws. We were the first ones to get 6000 signatures opposing the beef ban in Maharashtra. We protested against the suggestion of a Sena MP to remove the word secular from the preamble. Even in case of Rohit Vemula we demonstrated. We have always been out there. But haven’t Muslim women already waited for too long for justice? Are they not citizens of this country?
