Delhi Commission for Women

NEW DELHI: The chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women ( DCW ), Swati Maliwal , has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding laws against nikah halala and polygamy. While congratulating the PM on the initiatives taken by the Centre to criminalise triple talaq , she claimed that it would address only one part of the issue.

Maliwal said that in a civilised society, there was no place for these evil practices. DCW daily comes across several women suffering due to such practices, she added. Social evils such as child marriage, sati, female infanticide, dowry and abandonment by husband have been made illegal by law and have resulted in upliftment of women to a large extent, the letter stated.

“Nikah halala is a practice which is nothing but rape of a woman. A woman once divorced by her husband cannot reconcile with him until she marries another man and develops a sexual relationship with him. Even then, first that other man will give her a divorce and only then she can reconcile with her husband. It is physical abuse without consent of the woman.” Often the second man refuses to give divorce, it added. “This is a vicious cycle of torture and trauma for women entailing nothing but physical and mental abuse.”

Pleading the government not to provide incomplete justice, Maliwal urged it to add nikah halala and polygamy in the bill introduced in Lok Sabha.

