india

Updated: Sep 25, 2019 17:40 IST

In an outreach to Muslim women, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday announced a government benefit for all women handed out triple talaq, an act now criminalised, or abandoned by their husbands.

“A new scheme should be introduced under which victims of triple talaq as well as women who have been left by their husbands should be identified and given Rs 6,000 per annum. They will be given this money till they get justice,” the chief minister said, reports ANI. He was speaking at an event where he met women victims of triple talaq, a Muslim practice of instant divorce, from across the state.

Many see the Rs 6000 handout to Muslim women by the Uttar Pradesh government as an effort to blunt criticism from several quarters that attaching prison term to the Act means jail for offending husbands and if they are jailed it could prevent them from paying post-divorce maintenance and expose wives and children to financial insecurity. The other side, however, felt that for a law to be a deterrent it had to carry a jail term and penalties.

Banning triple talaq was one of the Lok Sabha poll promises of the BJP. The Supreme Court had made triple talaq unconstitutional in 2017 but earlier this year, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government criminalised it by passing a Bill in parliament. The law came into effect from August 1, 2019.

Under the new law divorcing through instant triple talaq is illegal, void and could attract a jail term of three years for the husband. A Muslim woman who has been divorced as per triple talaq practice is entitled to seek subsistence allowance from her husband for herself and also for her dependent children.