President promulgates triple talaq ordinance

After the Union Cabinet's approval, President Ram Nath Kovind has promulgated the ordinance banning the practice of instant triple talaq on Wednesday. This move had been stated by the Ministry of Law and Justice in a Gazette notification late last evening.

Union Cabinet's approval of the ordinance made instant triple talaq a punishable offence with a three-year jail term. Talking to reporters, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, under the Ordinance, the crime will be recognised only when the woman herself or her blood relative files a complaint against the husband. He also said the case may be dropped, if the duo reaches a compromise, but only if the wife approaches the magistrate.

Prasad also said that the magistrate can grant bail to the accused, on reasonable grounds, but only after hearing his wife. The wife will be given custody of the child and will be entitled to maintenance, as decided by the magistrate.

The Law Minister said that there was a compelling necessity and an overpowering urgency to approve the Ordinance. Mr Prasad said that triple talaq was not allowed to be ended by a Parliamentary law because of ambiguity and vacillation of the Congress party for pure vote bank politics.