07 February 2019•Update: 07 February 2019
By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ANKARA
India's main opposition party has pledged to do away with a law that criminalizes Muslim men to instantly divorce their wives if it wins the elections.
The triple talaq (instant divorce) law -- by uttering the word "" thrice -- was declared "unconstitutional" by the Indian Supreme Court in 2017.
Sushmita Dev, the women's wing chief of the Indian National Congress party, said on Thursday at a meeting in New Delhi that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had created an environment where Muslim women were against Muslim men.
“A lot of people told us that women will be empowered if the triple talaq bill is passed. But we opposed that law because it is a weapon that Narendra Modi Ji has prepared to put Muslim men in jail and make them stand in police stations," the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted her as saying.
Modi-led BJP federal government brought the bill to parliament last year. It was passed in the lower house but Congress and other parties opposed it in the upper house.
Under the proposed law, giving instant divorce “will attract a jail term of three years for the husband”.
