The Bharatiya Janata Party, an ally of ruling People’s Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir, said on Friday that it fully supports the legislation criminalizing triple-talaq. The legislation was passed by the Lok Sabha on Thursday amid heated debate and opposition by several members.
“We fully support the move (criminalizing triple-talaq). We will support any act by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” BJP’s general secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul told Kashmir Post.
The triple-talaq bill is being passed under the leadership of Modi and we fully support it, he said
However, he refrained from commenting on whether the BJP will bring such a bill in the J&K Assembly or not.
The bill, officially called as Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017, prepared by an inter-ministerial group headed by home minister Rajnath Singh, makes instant triple-talaq in any form—spoken, in writing or by electronic means such as email, SMS and WhatsApp —“illegal and void” and provides for a jail term of three years for the husband. It also envisages entitling divorcee Muslim women for maintenance.
Most of the Muslim organisations have opposed the bill, calling it as interference in religious affairs of Muslims. But despite reservations by opposition parties, the bill was introduced and passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.
President of Jammu and Kashmir BJP Mahila Morcha and minister of state for education, Priya Sethi said that the triple-talaq legislation will “empower women.”
“We support it because it will save the prestige of women,” she said, adding that she would also support a bill to criminalise triple-talaq if it is brought to the J&K Assembly.
On the other hand, chairperson of J&K women’s commission said that there is no trend of triple-talaq in J&K.
“In my entire tenure as head of the commission until this day, I have come across only two such cases in J&K,” Nayeema Mehjoor told Kashmir Post. “We counseled them and they too followed ‘shariah’.”
Triple-talaq bill getting ‘Full Support’ from J&K BJP
