Central government deserves compliments to get passed reformative bill on Triple Talaq by Lok Sabha on 27.12.2018 with practical amendments ruling out all possibility of interference of non-family-members of the victim-wife when only victim or her blood-relation could file a police-complaint. Other amendments including dropping the case in case the couple compromise and magistrate granting bail only after hearing the victim-wife were enough to get passed the bill unanimously. It is evident that opposition did not support a reformative move in interest of Muslim women that too at a time when even several Muslim countries have banned Triple Talaq. If it was an interference in religious matters, then opposition should have cried for abolition of Dowry Act also.
Union government should now move further by banning multi-marriage by a Muslim man as a further step in welfare of Muslim-women. It is noteworthy that even most Islamic countries do not allow multi-marriages by men. At least it may be legislated that any non-Muslim adopting Islam may not be allowed to have more than one wife, because it is quite often that many non-Muslims including famous celebrities symbolically adopt Islam just for a day to have a second wife, which is a torture on first wife.
Ideal is to implement Uniform Civil Code where the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee once in Lok Sabha clarified that Uniform Civil Code does not mean law of majority community for all. Rather he emphasized that good aspects from all religions like compulsory consent of girl for marriage as per Islamic Law would be considered for an ideal Uniform Civil Code.
SUBHASH CHANDRA AGRAWAL