A 38-year-old man, identified as Mohammed Haneef, was arrested after he sent a postcard with ‘triple talaq’ to divorce his wife.
According to reports, the man has accused his wife of ‘ridiculing him’, while the police has charged him with ‘harassing’ his wife.
The arrest came a day after his wife lodged a complaint against him. Haneef married the 26-year-old woman on March 9. The couple reportedly fought after which the man drank mosquito repellent and had to be taken to hospital, following which he sent the ‘triple talaq postcard’.
The Supreme Court had said that Islamic practices of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy are issues that are “very important” and involve “sentiments”, and had decided a Constitution Bench would hear petitions challenging these from May 11.
Influential Muslim organisations like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) have opposed court’s adjudication of these matters, maintaining these practices stemmed from the Holy Quran and were not justiciable.
Several Muslim women have challenged the practice of triple talaq in which the husband, quite often, pronounces talaq thrice in one go, sometimes even by phone or text message.
Nikah Halala is a practice intended to curb incidence of divorce under which a man cannot remarry his former wife without her having to go through the process of marrying someone else, consummating it, getting divorced, observing the separation period called ‘Iddat’ and then coming back to him again.
A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud observed that “sentiments” were involved in the matter pending before it and a five-judge constitution bench would adjudicate the issue, which required a detailed hearing.
