Hyderabad, Jan 1: The women's wing of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board Tuesday alleged that the triple talaq bill is anti-women and asked Rajya Sabha members to send it to a Select Committee for legal scrutiny.
The 'Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on marriage) Bill,2018' may break marriages rather than empowering women and causes a direct blow to the family system and the institution of marriage, the wing's chief organiser Asma Zohra said in a release here.
The Bill has been brought forward to "empower Muslim women", but its provisions defeat its very purpose, she alleged.
"Muslim women will not get anything from this Bill.
Instead she is left abandoned deserted. Her condition will become more miserable," Zohra said.
She said that in any criminal case, it is the magistrate who decides the granting of bail, not the victim.
"On a mere allegation of the wife, the husband is jailed.
This is against criminal jurisprudence," it said.
Zohra said it is an irony that there is freedom in this country for men and women to have premarital, extra-marital and even multiple relationships.
Decriminalisation of Section 377 was an example of freedom in personal and civil matters, she said and sought to know why a Muslim man is then penalised for divorce.
Zohra pointed out that the AIMPLB had time and again stated that pronouncing triple talaq in one sitting is not the standard procedure of divorce and those practising it should face social boycott.
"There was no need of this Bill after the Supreme Court judgement invalidating triple talaq. It has been brought with political and communal motives to divide society," she said.
Voicing opposition to the Bill, the women's wing urged the Rajya Sabha members to send it to Select Committee for "legal scrutiny".
The Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha last week,hit a hurdle in the Rajya Sabha Monday as the Congress-led Opposition insisted on sending it to the House Select Committee for further scrutiny, which the government did not agree to.
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Kollam (PTI): A teacher convicted in the sensational murder of Dr Vandana Das inside a hospital here was sentenced to life term on Saturday, and the prosecution said it will move an appeal seeking death penalty for the accused. The victim's family also batted for "maximum punishment".
Dr Das was brutally killed inside a taluk hospital in May 2023 by G Sandeep.
Kollam Additional District and Sessions judge P N Vinod sentenced Sandeep to a total of 30 years for various offences under the then Indian Penal Code (IPC) and said that after he serves that period, his life imprisonment for Das' murder will commence.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.35 lakh on the convict.
Though the prosecution had sought death penalty for the accused during the arguments on sentence, the court was of the view that the case does not fall under the rarest-of-rare category to warrant the maximum punishment.
It was also of the view that there was a chance of the convict getting reformed as he told the court that the rest of his life would be one of repentance, the order on sentence said.
"At the same time, I agree with the stand of the prosecution to the effect that the sentence should commensurate with the gravity of the crime and the sentence should not only be reformative, but should also have a deterrent effect."
"In my view, the said objective can be achieved by directing that the term sentences that will be imposed will run consecutively and life sentence that has to be imposed will commence only after the expiration of terms sentences," the judge said.
After the verdict, special public prosecutor (SPP) Prathap G Padickal told reporters outside the court that he will recommend to the prosecution to file an appeal seeking enhancement of the life imprisonment to death penalty.
The victim's father said that the verdict has come as a relief for the family, but that he cannot authoritatively say whether his late daughter has got justice. He indicated his dissatisfaction with the punishment, saying that steps will be taken to seek its enhancement after discussions with the public prosecutor.
Dr Das' mother said that the family can only wish for the maximum punishment and it was up to the court to decide what sentence should be given. She said that the family will go in appeal, but declined to comment on whether her daughter got justice.
She tearfully said that she wants the convict to suffer the same pain that her daughter underwent "as he stabbed her 27 times".
The court on March 17 had convicted Sandeep for various offences under the IPC, including murder, destruction of evidence and wrongful restraint.
It had also held him guilty under the provisions of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of violence and damage to property) Act 2012.
Sandeep was brought to the taluk hospital by the police for medical treatment during the small hours of May 10, 2023 and he went on a sudden attacking spree using a pair of surgical scissors kept in the room where his leg injury was being dressed.
A school teacher by profession, he had initially attacked the police officers and another person who had accompanied him to the hospital and then turned on the young Dr Das, who could not escape to safety.
She was stabbed several times and later succumbed to her injuries in a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where she was rushed following the attack.
Dr Das was a native of the Kaduthuruthy area of Kottayam district and the only child of her parents.
She was a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital and was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.
Sandeep had called the emergency number 112, claiming that his life was in danger. When local police located him, he was standing close by his home, surrounded by local residents and his relatives, and had a wound on his leg following an alleged quarrel.
He was then taken to the hospital for dressing the wound.
