Five years after the Supreme Court’s decision of triple talaq, petitioners living like ‘half-divorced’

five years later A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar, invalidated instant triple talaq. In August 2017, the woman petitioner is leading a semi-divorced life. Technically still married, practically divorced, they have neither marital rights nor regular maintenance from separated husbands. Women cannot remarry in the absence of a practically abandoned, legally valid divorce. After the verdict, none of the men were visited by law enforcement bodies and asked to take their wives back. Further, no arrest could be made for giving instant triple talaq because Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 The instant divorce came into force long after it was announced.

There is a cloud of confusion in the air as women are uncertain about their eligibility for a new marriage. The top court, it may be recalled, struck down instant triple talaq in Shayra Bano v Union of India case, while refraining from commenting directly on the status of their marriage. As victims of instant triple talaq, women had gone to court for redress. However, after the separation of the court talaq-e-biddat or instant triple talaq, the petitioners’ husbands failed to accept them back into marriage. Meanwhile, many of the men have remarried, and have given birth to children. Even after working hard all her life, none of the women chose to exercise openIndispensable right of a woman to divorce either.

They say Shayra Banu Whose petition against immediate divorce by her husband Rizwan Ahmed snowballed into a landmark verdict, “My husband did not establish any contact to restore the marriage after the verdict. Legally, I am still married to him.”

He has not sought to annul the marriage open either. “I am fighting for the custody of my children. My son is 18 years old, daughter is 15 years old. I only see them in court. I want to at least talk to him on the phone but it is not possible. Due to the pandemic, only online hearings were held for two years. So I haven’t seen them since. However, my husband has remarried.” Following the historic decision, Ms. Bano was made the vice-chairman of the Uttarakhand Women’s Commission, a position she continues to hold. At one point, due to social outrage over her decision, she had to move to Kashipur. Had to leave the ancestral place too.

Ishrat Jahan, one of the petitioners whose marriage was terminated after her Dubai-based husband Murtaza Ansari divorced her over phone, says, “Everyone welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision but what did I get? nothing. Can’t get back to him. He hasn’t sent me a legally valid talaqnama Although either I haven’t divorced open,

In this semi-divorce situation, Ms. Jahan, who joined BJP Minority Morcha as National Secretary A few years ago, can’t expect to get married again. “I’m not going to get married again. That ship has sailed. I’m taking care of my kids. They’re in different classes, V to XII. My husband is married. He has a child.”

Ms. Jahan has tried her hand at politics. She joined politics before the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. She said, “I joined politics because I needed a goal in life but people said so much after joining BJP that at one point it became difficult to walk my street. Now, that’s fine. Somebody Doesn’t bother me,” says Ms. Jahan, taking a break from her sewing machine, which is her only source of income.

Same is the case with two other petitioners Gulshan Parveen and Afreen Rehman. Technically their marriage is consummated but practically, they are divorced, notwithstanding the court’s decision.

Zakia Soman, co-founder of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, says, “The petitioners’ marriages go on but the husbands do not want to reconcile. If women want to remarry they have to open, The whole burden is on the women. However, the fight was not in vain as the incidents of triple talaq have come down since the verdict. Historically, these women have been heroines.”