Expedite triple talaq verdict: Petitioners to CJI

NEW DELHI: A group of Muslim women has written to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) urging him to give a verdict on the issue of triple talaq "at the earliest".

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar had in May reserved its verdict on a clutch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the practice of triple talaq for divorce among Muslims.

"We urge your Lordships to kindly pronounce the judgment at the earliest. Thousands of Muslim women are eager to hear a judgment that would put an end to their ordeal after being divorced arbitrarily and instantly," according to the letter to the CJI.

CJI Khehar retires on August 27 and, therefore, the five-judge bench headed by him is expected to deliver its verdict on or before that.

The letter, dated August 5, has been signed by some of the petitioners -- Afreen Rehman, Badar Sayeed and Muslim women rights' advocacy group Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan.

"We are confident that the Supreme Court will give a ruling upholding the Constitution and equal rights for women. End to triple talaq would restore the faith of ordinary Muslims in democracy," the letter adds.

While reserving its verdict on the matter, the apex court had asked Muslim bodies how could a practice like triple talaq be a matter of "faith" when they considered it "patriarchal", "bad in theology" and "sinful".

"What is sinful cannot be part of practice. If it is bad in theology, it cannot be accepted in law...What is morally wrong cannot be legally right. What is not fully moral, it cannot be legal," the bench observed.