Supreme Court to hear triple talaq case from today

After months of deliberation, the stage is set for the Supreme Court to hear the Constitutional validity of practices like triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy, starting Thursday.

The all-male bench led by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar along with Justices UU Lalit, Rohinton Nariman, Kurien Joseph, and Abdul Nazeer will deliberate upon issues submitted by all the parties concerned.

While the All India Muslim Personal Law Board defends their practice, the government has deemed it unconstitutional and wishes to abolish them to protect the rights and dignity of women. Several applications – more than 30 in all, including women's rights' group are also party to the case. Tribals, also feature as one of the parties since a few sects practice polygamy.

It will be a long summer for the Supreme Court as three constitutional benches – five judges each, will sit along with two regular vacation benches. Perhaps, for the first time in judicial history, almost 19 judges have curtailed their vacation and altered their plans to decide on matters.

The judges' efforts was lauded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he spoke at an event on May 10 where the Chief Justice inaugurated an integrated software aimed at digitising the judiciary to cut down on time and bring about transparency in the system.

Triple talaq, one of the most burning issues, will be the first to be taken up on May 11, the first day of summer break.

On March 30, the top court pushed for an expeditious hearing of the triple talaq case rebuffing attempts by the Union and other senior counsels to defer it.

In their submissions, the Centre informed the SC that practices of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy are patriarchal and traditional in notion which must be struck down.

Fresh from its victory in the Uttar Pradesh elections, the BJP-led Centre reiterated their stand in their submissions, which called these practices "unequal and vulnerable".

"The practices which are under challenge, namely, triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy are practices which impact the social status and dignity of Muslim women and render them unequal and vulnerable qua men belonging to their own community, women belonging to other communities and also Muslim women outside India," the Centre had said.

"There are unreasonable classifications which arise from practices such as those under challenge in the present petition, which deny Muslim women the full enjoyment of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution," it added.

"Gender inequity has ripple effect on the rest of the community, preventing it from partaking in full, liberties guaranteed by a modern Constitution," it said.

The Centre stood behind principles of secularism, gender equality, international practices and their international obligations in striking down these particular personal laws.

"Even though it may be true to say that only some women are directly and actually affected by triple talaq and polygamy, the fact remains that every woman who is subject to the said law lives under threat, fear or prospect of these practices being invoked against her, which in turn impacts her status, her choices, her conduct and her right to life with dignity," the Centre has said.

The Centre further added polygamy could not ascribed as being sanctioned by religion since it was practiced among other religions as well. A section of tribals in this country, who are also party to this petition, will be affected should polygamy be struck down. "Practices such as polygamy cannot be described as being sanctioned by religion in as much as historically, polygamy prevailed across communities for several centuries including the ancient Greeks and Romans, Hindus, Jews and Zoroastrians. It had less to do with religion and more to do with social norms at the time," the submission said.