(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: Triple Talaq Bill

Topic: Triple Talaq Bill

Guest:

Satya Prakash, (Legal Editor, The Tribune)
Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, (Chairman, National Commission for Minorities)
Farah Faiz, (Petitioner and Supreme Court Advocate)
M M Ansari, (Writer and Policy Analyst)

Topic Description:

The government on Friday introduced a fresh triple talaq bill in the Lok Sabha amid vehement protests by opposition members who claimed that it was violative of the Constitution. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 became the first legislation to be tabled in Parliament by the Narendra Modi dispensation in its second term, with Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asserting the legislation was a must for gender equality and justice. The bill was introduced following a division of votes, with 186 members supporting and 74 opposing it. The bill was introduced in the lower house to replace an Ordinance issued in February by the previous BJP-led NDA government. The Bill was earlier introduced in December 2017 but owing to dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha last month, the previous bill had lapsed as it was pending in the Rajya Sabha. The government had promulgated the Ordinance on triple talaq twice -- in September 2018 and in January 2019 -- as the contentious bill remained pending in the Rajya Sabha, though it was passed by the Lok Sabha. The Bill proposes to make the practice of instant triple talaq a penal offence. On this edition of the big picture we will take a closer look at The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019.