The Centre has told the Supreme Court that triple talaq is neither integral to Islam nor a majority versus minority issue. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, in his rebuttal to the arguments favoring the 1,400 year-old practice of triple talaq, said yesterday that the issue is rather an intra-community tussle between Muslim men and deprived women.
He also made a strong pitch for judicial scrutiny on grounds including violation of fundamental rights like right to equality and gender justice. The Attorney General reiterated that the top court was guardian of fundamental rights and has to see whether there was any violation of such rights.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar, asked the Centre as to why it did not legislate to regulate marriages and divorce among Muslims. The Supreme Court is hearing on a clutch of petitions challenging triple talaq, polygamy and ‘nikah halala’.
