Supreme Court rejects plea against triple talaq ordinance

The SC has refused a plea by a Kerala-based Muslim outfit challenging the constitutional validity of the central government’s triple talaq ordinance which make the act of uttering triple talaq ordinance a criminal offence punishable with a jail term of three years. A bench led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi refused to interfere on the ground that the ordinance, which was moved by the government in September, 2019, will come up before Parliament in the winter session. An ordinance is an extraordinary legislative step taken when the House is not in session.

The central government had brought it in when the House was not in session. Any ordinance lapses within six months unless cleared by Parliament. It will therefore come up in the next winter session in December. The Kerala-based Samasta Kerala Jamiyyatul Ulema had challenged the ordinance as discriminatory as it targeted only a section of Muslim men while others deserting their wives got away scot-free.

Their petition argued that the ordinance could not have made the act an offence especially when the top court had banned it as illegal. The petition was argued by senior advocate Raju Ramachadran and lawyer Zulfikar Ali.