Congress blocked Triple Talaq bill due to vote-bank politics: Ravi Shankar Prasad
New Delhi, Sept 19 (IBNS): Slamming the Congress, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has alleged that the opposition party indulged in vote-bank politics while blocking the Triple Talaq Bill, which received the cabinet's nod on Wednesday.
Triple Talaq is a practice of instant divorce to Muslim women by their husbands. The bill criminalised such activity, rendering it a punishable offence.
Addressing a press conference, Prasad said: "We wanted to take Congress on board but it opposed the bill due to vote-bank politics."
Prasad said that he had asked the Congress three times to support the bill.
The bill is likely to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha (parliament's upper house) during the winter session.
The Opposition had blocked the bill in the upper house on the last day of the monsoon session.
The bill criminalises the practice of divorcing by uttering the word “talaq” thrice in any form – spoken, in writing, or over electronic communication. It also proposes a three-year jail term for men who violate the law.
Elucidating the crux of the bill, the law minister said an offence will be cognizable only when a First Information Report (FIR) will be filed by the victim, her relatives with blood connections and those who have a relation with the wife due to marriage.
The second element of the bill states it is only the wife who can mutually settle the dispute with her husband.
Lastly, the magistrate can give bail to the accused but only after hearing the wife.
Prasad even called the bill as "gender justice, gender dignity and gender equality".
Along with Congress' former president Sonia Gandhi, the minister took a swipe at two other women political leaders, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
He said: "I am appealing to three senior political persons- Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee- to rise above vote-bank politics and stand up for humanity and justice."
Image: BJP Live/Twitter
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