Chennai, Oct 5 : A PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court against the ordinance that makes the practice of instant 'triple talaq' a punishable offence, contending that it violated the Constitution and was discriminatory.
When the public interest litigation petition by Hussain Afroze, an advocate of the high court, came up for hearing, a bench comprising justices S Manikumar and P T Asha directed the counsel, who appeared for the Centre, to get instructions and posted it to October 22.
The petitioner challenged clauses 4-7 of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance, promulgated on September 19, and sought to declare the ordinance as ultra vires.
He also sought an interim injunction on the ordinance.
Already, the Kerala-based Muslim organisation Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama has moved the Supreme Court challenging the ordinance.
Instant triple talaq, also known as talaq-e-biddat, is an instant divorce whereby a Muslim man can divorce his wife by pronouncing 'talaq' three times in one go.
Under the ordinance, instant triple talaq has been declared illegal and punishable with a jail term of three years for the husband.
In the present PIL, the petitioner has submitted that under the Muslim Personal Law, a marriage was a civil contract and this position has been recognised under the Shariat Act 1937 and in various judicial pronouncements.
Referring to the apex court's judgement in the Shayara Bano case on triple talaq, he said the court in its majority judgment emphatically declared the practice was invalid and the marriage does not stand dissolved on its pronouncement. The judgement is the law of the land as its stands today.
The pronouncement of triple talaq is otiose, he said, adding there was no legal justification for imposing a punishment upon an utterance which has no legal validity and does not inflict any injury -- legal or otherwise.
The petitioner said the government argued that the ordinance was being brought since the practice of triple talaq continued despite the Supreme Court order holding it unconstitutional and invalid.
Clause 3 of the ordinance invalidates triple talaq whereas Clause 4 stipulated penal consequences of up to three years imprisonment.
For an act to become a crime, there must be an injury caused to an individual or to the society at large, he said, adding since triple talaq does not dissolve a marriage, the imposition of punishment under Clause 3 of the ordinance "smacks of mala fide and arbitrariness."
He further submitted that since Muslim marriage was a contract, the law of the land would stipulate damages as relief in the event of any breach.
Hence, transforming a civil dispute into an act of criminality and with penal consequences on the people who profess a particular religion was illegal and discriminatory, he contended.
The ordinance was Muslim-centric and clearly hit by the provisions of Article 14, 15 of the Constitution, he submitted, seeking it be quashed.
In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on August 22 last year had set aside the 1,400-year-old practice of instant 'triple talaq' among Muslims on several grounds, including that it was against the basic tenets of the Quran and violated the Islamic law Shariat.
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New Delhi: India has announced new restrictions on the import of certain goods from Bangladesh, allowing them to enter the country only through specific seaports. According to a notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the new rules take immediate effect.
Under the revised guidelines, products such as readymade garments, processed food items, fruit-flavoured drinks, carbonated beverages, cotton and cotton yarn waste, plastic and PVC finished goods (excluding raw materials like pigments and granules), and wooden furniture can now only be imported via the Nhava Sheva and Kolkata seaports.
The notification explicitly states that these items will not be permitted through any Land Customs Stations (LCSs) or Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) in the northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram, as well as through LCSs at Changrabandha and Fulbari in West Bengal.
However, the DGFT clarified that these port restrictions will not apply to Bangladeshi goods transiting through India en route to Nepal or Bhutan.
Certain essential goods, including fish, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), edible oil, and crushed stone are exempt from the new restrictions and can continue to be imported through land ports.
The development comes amid rising tensions between India and Bangladesh. Last month, on April 13, Bangladesh halted the export of Indian yarn through land routes. Two days later, it also stopped Indian rice exports via the Hili and Benapole ICPs in West Bengal.
Diplomatic ties further strained after Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, made remarks in China suggesting strategic dominance over India’s northeastern states. “The eastern part of India, known as the Seven Sisters, is landlocked. They have no access to the ocean. We are the only guardians of the ocean in this region,” Yunus said, hinting at regional cooperation with Chinese industries.