Triple Talaq is one of the most debated topics in India has formed intense pressure majorly amongst the Muslim women throughout the years of struggle and attempt to strike off the practice of instant talaq. India’s parliament approved the bill making the Muslim practice of ‘instant divorce’ a criminal offence.
This atrocious practise has ruined the lives of many Muslim
women as well as their children. Women often received instant talaq by letter,
telephone or through text message yet the women fought the custom by
petitioning the ruling body to declare Triple Talaq unconstitutional. Many
Islamic countries like Egypt, UAE and Pakistan have banned Triple Talaq but the
custom continued to infect Indian society. The campaigners, protesters have
sharply divided the political parties over this bill.
These Muslim women did not only fight the battle across the country but fought it within themselves to weigh down the stigma attached to divorces. Stories of these women who have experienced this dangling sword of instant talaq above their heads would leave you feeling the scorns and scoffs of this shambling practice. The tale of tolerance and endurance of these Islamic women will bring shiver up and down your spine.
1. Afrin:-
This 22-year-old woman from Shahjahanpur was a
cheerful and happy girl as a child who loved scrolling through the feeds of
social media. After a lot of sufferance in her four years of marriage, she
still hoped on keeping things normal. The other evening shook her with a post
on facebook by her husband saying ‘Talaq Talaq Talaq’ when her phone beeped
with a message flashing the same three words that left her shattered in pieces.
She was sitting alone unknown to what is going on, she kept murmuring the words
in intense shock while her 3-year-old daughter played with toys scattered on
the bed. Her mother exclaimed that her husband’s family had been demanding
dowry and had to dissolve the marriage using the Triple Talaq system. Afrin
mustered all her courage to report the police against her husband who took
misused the Muslim Personal Law.
2.
Shayara
Bano
Shayara had her case cumulated with multiple petitions
to the top courts since it formed a lot of pressure for the abolition of this
practice. Shayara is one of the triple talaq victims who had closely petitioned
ban on instant divorce, polygamy and nikah halala which ingested as the worst
Muslim customary practices. Under Nikah Halala, the Muslim woman is forced to
marry again after the divorce, consummate the marriage and then break it if she
is willing to go back to the first husband.
3.
Rubina
Rubina was just 24 years old when she married a
prosperous aged man in 2015 to get financial support for her family. She
often got threats from her husband of instant divorce due to which she lived
away from her husband. The society left no stones unturned to humiliate and
ostracize her in public.
4.
Rizwana
Rizwana is a 33-year-old Railways employee who is one
of the rigid petitioners of polygamy. She married an Indian Air Force employee
Mohammed Khalid who deceivingly married her by concealing his two previous
marriages. Rizwana discovered this news by finding two of his previous identity
cards carrying names of two other women in front of spouse. Unable to seek
divorce due to Islamic norms her alimony was taken away from her.
5.
Farzana
Farzana from Kanpur is a single mother who was
continuously tormented by her husband demanding dowry even after concealing
previous marriage from her. It came as a
shock to her when the neighbours revealed about his first marriage but still
went along surviving for the sake of her children. She also filed a domestic
violence and maintenance case against her husband and in-laws in 2009.
Despite
being tortured and oppressed in Muslim society, these women seamlessly kept
litigating for stringent law formation. With new iron-fisted laws these women
no matter which community or religion they come from, hold their dignity and
respect intact.