Muslim women pray to Hanuman for reprieve from triple talaq

VARANASI: It was a prayer of a different kind at Varanasi's famed Sankatmochan temple on Wednesday. Muslim women recited the Hanuman Chalisa at the temple in Daranagar, praying that the lord rescues them from the practice of triple talaq. The women, activists of Muslim Mahila Foundation in Varanasi, recited the chalisa 100 times, reading from an Urdu script. The issue of triple talaq is to come up for hearing by the constitutional bench at the Supreme Court on May 11."This temple is special, hence we decided to seek blessings from Lord Hanuman. We have heard that whoever recites the chalisa 100 times here gets their wish fulfilled. For us, the wish is to get rid of the practice of triple talaq," said Nazneen Ansari, national president of the foundation."We prayed that we be freed from ill practices like triple talaq, nikah halala and other atrocities faced by Muslim women," she added.The large number of Muslim "devotees" at the temple were joined by RSS leader Indresh Kumar and Pithadishwar (chief priest) of Patalpuri Math Baba Balak Das."We are sure that our deity would help our Muslim sisters whose devotion is no less then any of their Hindu counterparts," Das said. "The time has come when we should unite against the wrong practices of society, including the practice of triple talaq, and move ahead. Muslim women from all corners of the country are fighting against this ill practice," said Kumar.