The new bill to ban the practice of instant triple talaq has been introduced in the Lok Sabha. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, was listed in the Lok Sabha's agenda for Friday.

The fresh bill seeks to replace an ordinance issued in February by the previous BJP-led NDA government. With the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha last month, the previous bill had lapsed as Rajya Sabha had not cleared it.

Here are the LIVE updates:

6:00 pm: Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day. The next sitting will be on June 24 at 11 am.

4:15 pm: BJP member from Bihar Rajiv Pratap Rudy urged the government to probe whether linking deaths of children due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in the state to consumption of litchis was part of a conspiracy to damage the brand name of the fruit. Participating in a debate during the Zero Hour, Rudy said the situation in Bihar's Muzaffarpur was worrisome.

"We are told that eating litchi by children in Bihar's Muzaffarpur may be the cause of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) "This is a conspiracy to damage the brand name of litchi... We are eating litchis since our childhood but we did not suffer from AES," Rudy said.

04:10 pm: Four BJP members - Rama Devi, Kirit P Solanki, Rajendra Agarwal, and Meenakshi Lekhi - have been nominated to a panel of chairpersons in the Lok Sabha. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said, once leaders of other parties suggest names of their members for the panel, the strength of the committee would be increased. Usually, ten members are part of the panel of chairpersons.

4.02 pm: Rajya Sabha has introduced The Parliament (Enhancement of Productivity) Bill, 2017.

2.45 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned for one hour.

2.02 pm: On the encephalitis deaths, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked the government to take care of the "Bihar thing" and bring an appropriate resolution.

1.32 pm: On claims that litchi was behind the death of children in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said such reports were unfortunate.

Suddenly, litchi export has gone down. We need to find out whether there is a part of the conspiracy. We need to get detailed information on this, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said on Friday.

1.29 pm: The Homeopathy Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2019 introduced in the Lok Sabha.

1.27 pm: Rajiv Pratap Rudy speaking on Muzaffarpur in the Lok Sabha.

Lok Sabha: Voting for introduction of Triple Talaq Bill 2019 in Lok Sabha today was held through paper slips as the new MPs have not yet been allotted division number that allows them to vote using polling machine. pic.twitter.com/cTsMeeVvJo ANI (@ANI) June 21, 2019

1.23 pm: Ravi Shankar Prasad re-introduces the new triple talaq bill.

1.07 pm: Division of votes in Lok Sabha on the reintroduction of the fresh bill on triple talaq

1.01 pm: Vote in Lok Sabha over the introduction of triple talaq bill.

12.54 pm: Owaisi says the new bill in violation of Article 14 and 15. Why a non-Muslim husband penalised for one year and a Muslim man penalised for three years? asks Asaduddin Owaisi.

12.50 pm: Ravi Shankar Prasad introduces the bill in Lok Sabha, says rights of Muslim women will be protected. "It is about justice and empowerment of women," says Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

12.41 pm: The new bill won't empower women, says AIMIM leader Owaisi.

12.36 pm: Congress MP Shahi Tharoor opposes the introduction of triple talaq bill in the current form. Says it criminalises triple talaq and targets only Muslim men for practice already declared void by Supreme Court.

12.30 pm: New triple talaq bill introduced in Lok Sabha

TRIPLE TALAQ BILL

The bill, which proposes to make the practice of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) a penal offence, had faced objections from the opposition parties which claimed that jail term for a man for divorcing his wife was legally untenable. The new bill is a copy of the ordinance in force.

Bills that are introduced in the Rajya Sabha and are pending there do not lapse with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. However, bills passed by the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha lapse with the dissolution of the lower house.

The government had promulgated the ordinance on triple talaq twice -- in September 2018 and in February 2019 -- as the contentious bill remained pending in the Rajya Sabha, though it was passed by the Lok Sabha.

Under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance, 2019, divorcing through instant triple talaq is illegal, void and will attract a jail term of three years for the husband.

Seeking to allay fears that the proposed law could be misused, the government has included certain safeguards in it such as adding a provision for bail for the accused during trial.

These amendments were cleared by the Cabinet on August 29, 2018.

While the ordinance makes it a "non-bailable" offence, an accused can approach a magistrate even before trial to seek bail.

In a non-bailable offence, bail cannot be granted by police at the police station itself. A provision was added to allow the magistrate to grant bail "after hearing the wife", the government had said.

In the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha, the new government plans to convert 10 ordinances, including the one to ban the practice of instant triple talaq, into law.

The ordinances were issued in February-March this year by the previous government as these could not be converted into Acts of Parliament in the last session of the 16th Lok Sabha.

Since the Narendra Modi government returned to power in the recently held elections, it has decided to give a fresh push to these proposed laws in the newly-constituted Lok Sabha. These ordinances will have to be converted into laws within 45 days of the beginning of the session, else they will lapse.

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