Men are better decision makers on triple talaq, Muslim Board tells SC

NEW DELHI: The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board on Friday pleaded with the Supreme Court not to go into the validity of ‘triple talaq’ and other provisions of personal laws as these fell in the legislative domain, besides being based on religious scriptures while opposing pleas of alleged gender discrimination faced by Muslim women in divorce cases.

“Shariah grants the right to divorce to husband because men have greater power of decision making. They are more likely to control emotions and not take a hasty decision,” the counter affidavit filed by the board said.

AIMPLB also said the issue relating to Muslim practices of polygamy, triple talaq (talaq-e-bidat) and nikah halala are matters of legislative policy and cannot be interfered with. “Courts cannot supplant its own interpretations over the text of scriptures” and step into the area of the legislature, the Board said.

The apex court had sought the Board’s response to a batch of PILs, including a suo motu petition, for and against such laws. Several Muslim women have also challenged the validity of “triple talaq,” polygamy and remarriage restrictions.

“Muslim personal laws were based on the tenets of Islam and as such the judiciary had no power to adjudicate on their validity in the face of women’s fundamental right to equality,” the affidavit states.

AIMPLB said the presumption that triple talaq was arbitrary and unreasonable was a fallacy of reason and it was a misconception that Muslim men enjoyed unilateral powers in respect of divorce.

On the issue of polygamy, the board said that though Islam permitted the practice, it was not encouraged. The Muslim Personal Law had provided for the practices to be followed on the issues of marriage, divorce and maintenance and these practices were based on holy scripture Al Quran, it contended.

“The rights of Muslim women were already protected by virtue of Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986 which had been upheld by the Supreme Court,” it added.




Source:-newindianexpress
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Ban on polygamy encourages illicit sex, Muslim law body tells Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: Sharia has granted the triple talaq mode of oral divorce+ to husbands because men are better at controlling emotions and, therefore, unlikely to take impulsive decisions, All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has said.

"Sharia grants right to divorce to husbands because men have greater power of decision making. They are more likely to control emotions and not take hasty decisions," the board said in its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in response to petitions from Shayara Banu and other Muslim women+ who have urged the apex court to declare triple talaq unconstitutional.

While asserting that triple talaq was part of Islamic religious practice protected by fundamental right to religion+ and that the SC was barred from adjudicating its validity, the AIMPLB also launched into a vigorous defence of polygamy and said the practice, which allows a Muslim man to have four wives, was necessary to curb illicit sex and was meant to protect women.

The 68-page affidavit argued that the court's concern for protection of Muslim women from alleged arbitrary divorce was erroneous as their rights were protected by Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, which was enacted by the Rajiv Gandhi government to annul the SC's Shah Bano judgment in 1985.

Defending triple talaq rights given to Muslim men, the board said the practice provided an easy mode to end marriages that had irretrievably broken down. It said keeping the husband and wife together when the husband did not want the woman made the husband and his family inflict mental and physical torture on the woman.

Defending triple talaq in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has said it is a very private method of divorce without going to court and making public the differences between the couple and then awaiting a long process for the outcome. Court proceedings and trading of charges by the couple harmed the reputation of the woman more than that of the man, it said.

It said in the western world, as a result of gender parity and securing divorce through courts alone, the divorce rate had shot up.

Through advocate Ejaz Maqbool, the board said it was a misconception that Muslim men enjoyed unilateral and unbridled power to divorce.

"A Muslim man can delegate his power of pronouncing talaq to his wife or to any other person. However, such delegation does not deprive the husband of his own right to pronounce talaq. A Muslim husband may delegate the power absolutely or conditionally, temporarily or permanently," AIMPLB said.

On the practice of polygamy, the board said, "Quran, Hadith and the consensus view allow Muslim men to have up to four wives." It said Islam permitted polygamy but did not encourage it.

Source:-indiatimes
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