Thorny triple talaq: Mukul Rohatgi’s criticism of the AIMPB is valid

In light of the ongoing proceedings in the Supreme Court over triple talaq, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s remarks on the All India Muslim Personal Board’s undertaking assume critical importance.

The A-G has cast aspersions on the Board’s affidavit that all those who resort to triple talaq will face social boycott, and that clerics must take an undertaking from husbands during the drawing up of nikahnama that they will not issue oral divorce. More importantly, the nikahnama will also have provisions that empower the wife to say no to instant divorce. To begin with, does the AIMPB enjoy any legal sanctity in the community? Are its words the gold standard for Muslims?

In other words, does it enjoy the same status as that of Darul Uloom Deoband? The second and more important aspect is that in a community where patriarchy is deeply entrenched and women have little or no say in religious or socio-economic affairs, why would the men cede ground in the absence of a law that protects the rights of women? In spite of acknowledging that triple talaq is ‘patriarchal’, ‘bad in theology’ and ‘sinful’, the AIMPB still wants the practice to continue. And, the board refuses to see the most obvious aspect that such an arrangement is unconstitutional and violates the basic tenets of humanism and gender parity.

The Supreme Court as the custodian of the rights of citizens should do well to base its judgement on the pitiable conditions of women in the community.