Talaq isn’t the problem: Many women are happy to break free from marriage
January 6, 2018
TOI Edit in TOI Editorials | Edit Page, India | TOI
When the Supreme Court invalidated
triple talaq, it was taking away the legal status of a practice where
Muslim women could be divorced and rendered homeless in an instant.
Divorce, by itself, is not a problem – men and women are better off if
they can easily free themselves from an unwanted or burdensome marriage.
It is the terms of parting that must be fair, in terms of material
security.
Triple talaq is instant, unilateral male repudiation leaving no room for negotiation or reconciliation. Outlawed in 22 Muslim-majority nations, it now has no legal force in India. It is true that social practices are not easy to extinguish by law (as the persistence of dowry, child marriage and domestic violence make clear), but what would Parliament achieve with a bill criminalising what is already illegal? It might serve to intimidate Muslim men but it doesn’t serve Muslim women’s welfare to have an estranged spouse in jail for three years, cutting off all support from him anyway. Criminalising may even be counterproductive, making women reluctant to report a pronouncement of triple talaq.
Muslim marriage is a civil contract, its dissolution should be civil too. In all of today’s din there’s also a danger of the tired and defeated image of divorced women getting entrenched. Quite to the contrary divorce can be liberating, and marriage something from which women are thrilled to break free. To be happily unmarried.
Triple talaq is instant, unilateral male repudiation leaving no room for negotiation or reconciliation. Outlawed in 22 Muslim-majority nations, it now has no legal force in India. It is true that social practices are not easy to extinguish by law (as the persistence of dowry, child marriage and domestic violence make clear), but what would Parliament achieve with a bill criminalising what is already illegal? It might serve to intimidate Muslim men but it doesn’t serve Muslim women’s welfare to have an estranged spouse in jail for three years, cutting off all support from him anyway. Criminalising may even be counterproductive, making women reluctant to report a pronouncement of triple talaq.
Muslim marriage is a civil contract, its dissolution should be civil too. In all of today’s din there’s also a danger of the tired and defeated image of divorced women getting entrenched. Quite to the contrary divorce can be liberating, and marriage something from which women are thrilled to break free. To be happily unmarried.
This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.
