Triple Talaq And The Politics Of Opportunism

The fight over triple talaq has reached a turning point, with the Supreme Court resuming arguments about its constitutional validity. As the Modi government’s call to ban the Muslim custom segues into campaign rhetoric, what loses ground is the larger question: the enduring misogyny of all personal laws in India.

- Damayanti Datta

“Talaq, talaq, talaq.” And Murtaza hung up the phone, ending his 15-year marriage to Ishrat Jahan, a mother of four. The embroiderist from West Bengal, now in Dubai, wanted a new life and a new wife. “Just because we eat apples, can’t we like other fruits?” Ajmal Basheer WhatsApped his talaq to his bride of 10 days in Kerala. Dowry or divorce? Syed Ashhar Ali Warsi of Madhya Pradesh used Speed Post to liquidate his marriage to Afreen Rehman. Rizwan Ahmed of Uttar Pradesh simply posted a letter to wife Shayara Bano, 37: “Talaq. Talaq. Talaq.” It’s a normal story: just a few men among many, exercising ‘rights’ bestowed by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937. But there’s a twist in the tale. In a grounds well of anger, Muslim women are coming forward. Burqas unveiled, staring unflinchingly into press cameras, navigating the labyrinth of court procedures, to challenge the tradition that grants their husbands the instant, unilateral and irrevocable right to divorce them: thetalaq-ul-biddat or triple talaq.