Made triple talaq a crime as it legitimised abandonment of Muslim women, Centre tells Supreme Court

The Centre has told the Supreme Court that triple talaq legitimised and institutionalised abandonment of wives, as it defended in the Supreme Court the 2019 law criminalising the practice and urged that the petition challenging it be dismissed.

In an affidavit filed in the court in response to petitions challenging the law, the Union of India said that despite the top court setting aside the practice in 2017, it has “not worked as a sufficient deterrent in bringing down the number of divorces by this practice” among the members of the community.

“It is submitted that Parliament in its wisdom has enacted the impugned Act to protect the rights of married Muslim women who are being divorced by triple talaq.