• Aaffidavit filed by AIMPLB speaks of excluding the provision of triple talaq from the nikahnamas (marriage contracts)
• The AIMPLB also said it will call for the social boycott of those who give triple talaq
New Delhi, May 22 (IANS): The All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Monday told the Supreme Court that it will tell Qazis to "advise" the bridegroom and bride during nikah to do away with the provision of triple talaq as it was undesirable in Shariat.
The AIMPLB, in their affidavit filed before the top court on Monday said, "At the time of performing 'nikah' (marriage), the person performing the 'nikah' will advise both the bridegroom/man and the bride/woman to incorporate a condition in the 'nikahnama' to exclude resorting to pronouncement of three divorces by her husband in one sitting."
The AIMPLB filed the affidavit in pursuance of its statement of May 18 before the five-judge constitution bench headed by chief justice Jagdish Singh Khehar that the board has decided to send an advisory to all the Qazis across the country to give the bride an option to include in the nikhahnama a condition that would disallow the husband to divorce by pronouncing triple talaq in one sitting.
In a two-page brief affidavit, AIMPLB said, "At the time of performing 'nikah' (marriage), the person performing the 'nikah' will advise the bridegroom/man that in case of differences leading to talaq the bridegroom/man shall not pronounce three divorces in one sitting since it is an undesirable practice in Shariat."
In the course of the hearing of a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of triple talaq, the AIMPLB had told the bench of chief justice Khehar, justice Kurian Joseph, justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, justice Uday Umesh Lalit and justice S Abdul Nazeer that triple talaq was "sinful" and "undesirable" and had no sanction of Holy Quran and Shariat.
The constitution bench had on May 18 reserved its verdict on the petition challenging the constitutional validity of triple talaq,
Besides its affidavit stating that it was going to advise Qazis all over the country to ask the bridegroom to shun triple talaq in one go, the AIMPLB also annexed this resolution passed on April 15 and 16 this year at the Board's meeting in Lucknow wherein it had said that instant triple talaq was not a correct method of divorce.
The AIMPLB in its Lucknow resolution had said, "The stand of Shariat is clear about divorce that the pronouncement of divorce without any reason and that three divorces in one go are not the correct methods of pronouncement of divorce."
"Such a practice (triple talaq in one sitting) is strongly condemned by the Shariat," the resolution had said. The resolution said that AIMPLB would start a "grand public movement" asking Muslims to "desist" from "pronouncing divorce without any reason" and "in any case three divorces in one go should not be resorted to".
In case of necessity, divorce with the provision of reconciliation and arbitration should be preferred in place of instant triple talaq, the Board said in its Lucknow resolution.
The AIMPLB's working committee had said, "The working committee has also decided that those who resort to triple divorce in one go leading to the creation of problems thereafter should be boycotted by the Muslims. This social boycott will be much helpful in decreasing the incidents of divorce (through triple talaq).
The Lucknow meet issued a code of conduct for the husband and wife in which it was emphasized that the dispute between husband and wife should be settled by mutual interaction.
"If the issue is not resolved mutually, the AIMPLB code said that "then the elder members of both families should try to settle the dispute amicably," the code said.
"If the efforts of dispute settlement bring in no good result then the divorce may be resorted to and that even then the pronouncement of divorce should only be one" keeping in mind the tenets of Sharia, the board said.
It said that every effort should be made to convey the message to all the segments of Muslims, especially to the poor people.
