Shamshad Hussein - New Delhi

Dr. Afaq discussed his wife's refusal to marry his eldest son, who insisted on marrying his office mate. He worked as a planning engineer. When the mother tried to convince her husband, he said to her in the local language: "You are divorced, divorced, divorced."

A young engineer from Andhra Pradesh married a girl from Atra Pradesh to the directorate of Bharrach three years before the divorce. They traveled by train to Bahrach and the travel took almost two days. And the two of them in the way of the dispute between them on something, the husband said in the moment of anger "divorced, divorced, divorced," then shocked the wife and called her father and told him what happened. The husband returned to the train station after receiving her father.

Divorce with three crimes
Negotiations between the two families began and the husband regressed and wanted to, but his father refused, seeing that he could not even replace another person and divorce his son. The girl refused, saying that she preferred to die for it.

When a divorce law came into force in the three that made divorce a crime, the husband called her and said he would come to take her home.

Now, no one is allowed to divorce his wife three times in a single council, because it has become a crime under the law. On July 30, the Indian parliament passed a bill banning three-year divorce in a single council, making it a criminal offense punishable by three years imprisonment And a fine, and this divorce will be considered null and void.

The law will apply after the official approval of the President of the Republic and traffic through other official procedures.

The new law criminalizes divorce by three, whether the divorce is verbal or written, or by text message or e-mail.

Muslim scholars opposed this law from the first day, and considered it an interference in the personal status law of Muslims, and thus in Islamic law.

Women's wing of the Muslim Personal Status Commission in India staged demonstrations against the "New Divorce Law" (Al Jazeera)

The divorce of a poet is illegal Bano
The Supreme Court of India ruled in Bana's case on 22 August 2017, stating that the three-year divorce in a single council, which is described as the "heretical divorce" of the prevailing Hanafi school, is null and void.

The plaintiff, Bano, filed a complaint with the Supreme Court to consider her husband's divorce nullified. Her husband, Radwan Ahmed, divorced her on 10 October 2015 three times in a single sentence.

The plaintiff called for a solution based on Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian Constitution guaranteeing the basic rights of citizens. She also pointed out that the divorce of the heretics (divorce by three in one council) is prohibited in Islamic countries.

The body of the Personal Status Law for all Muslims of India - founded by Muslims to protect the law as a seventh party of defense in the case - confirmed to the court that it would initiate an awareness campaign among Muslims to end this type of divorce, but it did not stop even after the ruling of this Supreme Court, In this context, the divorce law was issued in three cases.

Protection of marital rights of Muslim women
The law called "Protection of the Marital Rights of Muslim Women" contains three paragraphs, the first detailing the basic information about the law, and the second paragraph includes two items that stipulate:

1 - Declaration of divorce by three persons to his wife in words either orally or in writing or in any electronic form is contrary to the law, and thus canceled.

2. Any person who commits such acts shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of up to three years and a fine set by the Director of the Region.

The third paragraph includes three items:

1. Women are entitled to the maintenance of living for their young children and for themselves, as ordered by the district director.

2. Young children are cared for by the mother.

3. Such a crime shall be subject to follow-up by the Court.

Other opinion opponents
For its part, the opposition parties criticized the law referred to, on the grounds that it violates the religious freedom of all communities to work in personal conditions, whatever.

The ruling party has been accused of targeting the rights of a religious group in the country, which is clearly protected by the constitution, calling it an explicit interference in the personal status law that the Constitution respects.

Some see that the "law" is an injustice to Muslim women and not the protection of their rights, and the objection to the provisions of the law are two basic questions:

First: If the law considers divorce by the three null and void without any effect, how is the crime punishable by the husband?

Second: If the husband is imprisoned for a long period of three years, how can he provide for his wife and young children from inside the prison?

Demonstrators: "This law will inevitably harm women and lead to the destruction of the Muslim family" (Al Jazeera)

Reform by raising awareness rather than criminalizing
"Divorce by three in one council is an unsatisfactory social phenomenon, but this phenomenon should be corrected through awareness and guidance, not by criminalizing this," says the emir of the Islamic Group in India, al-Husseini al-Jazeerah.

While contemplating this law shows that it is not the protection of rights and the reform of a bad phenomenon, but the spread of disintegration and hostility in Muslim families, it is not reasonable to pass a law on a work considered by the Supreme Court canceled, and sentenced the husband to imprisonment will not only increase his family, According to Husseini.

He adds that cutting off relations with a wife without divorce or alimony is a phenomenon that exists in all categories. The special codification of Muslims in this regard with the criminalization of divorce indicates discrimination between the religious categories of the country even in the criminal law.

Law enters into Islamic law
"The law contradicts the rights of women and violates the religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution," said university president Sheikh Mufti Abu al-Qasim al-Nu'mani. .

The Muslim Personal Status Authority announced that it would file a complaint with the Supreme Court against this law.

"This law will definitely harm women and lead to the destruction of the Muslim family," said Fatma Muzaffar, a member of the organization, a social and educational activist who led the demonstrations.

She adds that the government has the right to legislate, but only if it conforms to the spirit of the Constitution and fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, which is not protected by this law.

Professor Taher Mahmood, an expert on personal status law and a member of the legal prosecution in India, said, "This law loses the mindset in terms of the origin of the law, but it does not block the legitimate way of divorce."

He stated that he does not support the law at all, but if it becomes law, it is necessary to be as cautious as possible, and in case of necessity, the legal method of divorce must be resorted to.