By Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad, July 31 (IANS) Women will be the ultimate sufferers of the triple talaq legislation as they will be damaging their homes and causing harm to their husbands, Asma Zehra, the Chief Organiser of the women's wing of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said on Wednesday.
In an interview here with IANS, Zehra described as "anti-women" The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2019, which was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
"It is instigation of women and end sufferers will be women only. It is totally an anti-women bill," she said.
"The lady who lands in such a problem will get nothing. In fact she will be damaging herself in many ways. She will be damaging her home and causing lot of harm to her husband," said Zehra.
The Bill makes the practice of pronouncement of instant triple talaq by a husband punishable with up to three years in jail.
She pointed out that for victims of domestic abuse, the country has the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act which has many doors open for reconciliation and repair of damages in marriages while this Bill has nothing.
"The minute a woman goes for an appeal under this Act, she herself will damage her home," she said.
She believes that even the lawmakers and judges will find it very difficult to handle these cases because the burden of proof lies with women. She feels that this will impose lot of burden on the judiciary and the legal fraternity.
"This bill has nothing to do with Muslim women empowerment or their protection. It is just vote bank politics of the ruling party," she added.
Zehra slammed the regional opposition parties for what she called deceiving the Muslim community by not opposing the defective bill. She said the weakening of opposition and opposition leaders led to this "calamity".
She pointed out that two crore women had come out on the streets to protest against the bill.
"In a democratic country where numbers have value, the government turned a blind eye to the voice of the women and posed itself as messiah of Muslim women. Muslim women very well know who are their enemies and who are their friends.
"There is nobody to raise voice over lynching of our brothers and husbands and here several hours of Parliament were wasted on this issue of husband and wife," Zehra said.
AIMPLB had collected five crore signatures during a nation-wide campaign against the bill last year.
"They included 2.85 crore women who opposed any kind of interference in Personal Law. Still the Law Commission, Women Commission and Human Rights Commission did not pay heed to the voice of the majority," she said.
Zehra also said every party and parliamentarian who had a role in passing this Bill should be held accountable and Muslim leaders should not support or garner votes for them.
"Muslims should learn lessons from what has happened. Everything in future depends on how you understand the whole issue now. Unless and until the community understands what has gone wrong, unless and until it diagnoses the disease within and stands strong and united, our constitutional rights can't be defended and we will be weakened," she added.
(Mohammed Shafeeq can be reached at m.shafeeq@ians.in)
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