Triple talaq: NCW says it’s ready to submit opinion on abolition of practise if SC directs

Coimbatore: The National Commission for Women (NCW) said on Wednesday that it was ready to submit its opinion on the abolition of triple talaq if the Supreme Court asked for it.

“As such NCW is against triple talaq.. It should go and it should be abolished,” NCW member Rekha Sharma told reporters in Coimbatore to a question whether NCW will offer its opinion on the issue if the apex court asked.

Rekha said many women had suffered and continued to suffer due to this practice and that is why NCW wanted it to be done away with.

Moreover, the NCW Chairperson had questioned the absence of a woman on the Supreme Court bench hearing the triple talaq issue, Rekha, who is in Coimbatore for a two-day public hearing on women-related cases, said.

Alleging lack of coordination from police, she said it delayed action in many cases for want of FIRs.

Stating that about 33,000 cases remain unresolved in the commission, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and West Bengal, she said the situation in the South was far better.

With regard to Tamil Nadu, she said 90 per cent of the cases have been resolved.

During the public hearing, the commission resolved 100 cases in Chennai and 35 cases out of 40 in Coimbatore district, Rekha said.

A five-judge bench, made up of judges from different religious communities, Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Hindu and Muslim, is hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy practices among Muslims.

The apex court has fixed a six-day schedule for hearing, in which three days are available for those challenging triple talaq and three days for those defending it.

The Centre had on 7 October last opposed in the Supreme Court the practice of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds like gender equality and secularism.