Update on "Triple Talaq"

Indian Express: The National Commission for Women is trying to set the record straight on Triple Talaq in other parts of the Muslim world.

They are arguing that Muslim personal law in India is particularly backwards. In Pakistan, "triple talaq," or instantaneous verbal divorce, has been illegal since 1961. More facts about personal (marriage) laws in other parts of the Muslim world:

She said creating awareness about other Islamic societies would help fight the propaganda that the Shariat laws could not be interpreted or changed. In countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, even a second marriage is banned.

However, in countries like Iran, Iraq, Syria and Bangladesh, second marriages are discouraged through a strict legal and administrative mechanism. [In India, polygamy is still legal under Muslim personal law. -AS]

Unlike in India, where Muslim women have no right to divorce, in Turkey and Iran, both husband and wife enjoy equal rights for seeking divorce. In Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh, government officials have to prove that they had gone for a divorce only after having made serious efforts to patch up their differences with their spouse. In all these Islamic countries, divorce is final only after a court verdict.

Again Turkey, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran and Bangladesh have legally banned one-sided divorces, which gave men arbitrary powers to break marriages, while countries like Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Pakistan and Bangladesh had banned the practice of triple talaq long ago.

These are useful facts to have, and not to make debating points in favor of the Uniform Civil Code. I follow the NCW and Nafia Hussein here in thinking primarily of human rights for Muslim women in India.