New Delhi, June 21: The Modi government on Friday introduced a fresh bill banning triple talaq in the Lok Sabha amid protest from opposition benches. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tabled The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, while Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and AIMIM lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that Muslim men are being targetted through the triple talaq bill.

Revolutionary Socialist Party's N K Premachandran said the triple talaq bill violates Article 32 of the Constitution and said he is opposed to consider a civil offence a criminal offence. Last year, The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2018 was passed in Lok Sabha but it lapsed after the dissolution of previous Lok Sabha with the bill pending in Rajya Sabha. Here's what happened in Lok Sabha when the triple talaq bill was tabled. Triple Talaq Bill Tabled in Lok Sabha After 186 MPs Vote in Favour of Introducing It; AIMIM, Congress Oppose.

Prasad introduced the triple talaq bill following a division of votes, with 186 members supporting and 74 opposing it. Justifying the government's move, Prasad said there were 543 cases of triple talaq reported in the country. After the Supreme Court verdict banning triple talaq practice, Prasad said more than 200 cases were reported. "This is not a question of religion but about justice to women," the minister said.

As soon as Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asked Prasad to move the bill, several opposition members rose in protest and Birla allowed them to put forth their point of view. Shashi Tharoor said he was opposed to triple talaq but was against the criminalisation of a civil offence. The Congress MP suggested the scope of the bill should be extended to women of all communities and not just Muslim.

"By framing a law criminalising only Muslim husbands for a void act, without having a universally applicable law for the act of desertion, the bill is a textbook example of class legislation which violates Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution," Tharoor argued. Opposing the bill, Asaduddin Owaisi said that abandoning a wife attracted up to one-year jail term under the Hindu Marriage Act and wanted to know why Muslim men had to undergo harsher punishment for the same crime.

Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the AIMIM MP said the ruling party has so much affection for Muslim women but is opposed to rights of Hindu women to enter Kerala's Sabarimala temple. "Triple talaq bill violates Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution. If the husband will be in jail for three years, how will he pay maintenance to his wife?" Owaisi asked.

Revolutionary Socialist Party's Premachandran said criminalising a civil wrong done by a particular community is discriminatory. "Personal laws should not fall under the purview of criminal law," he said. Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan said his party supports what is written in the Quran. "Our stand is similar to what is written in the Quran," he said outside Parliament.

While there is a consensus among lawmakers to ban giving divorce to a wife by saying talaq thrice in quick succession, the opposition is specifically to a clause in the bill that proposes three years jail to a man who divorces his wife through this method.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 21, 2019 04:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).