When an under-confident, middle-class woman from a small town showed the courage to demand the scrapping of unilateral pronouncement of divorce in one sitting (triple talaq) people took note.

Not only because she was an unlikely candidate to have challenged a religious practice but also because many were keen to know whether she can eventually force a change despite the opposition.

THE STORY OF SHAIRA



37- year-old Shaira Bano has taken her triple talaq case to the Supreme Court and citing it as an 'unfair practice' she has demanded it be abolished in India. She says she was duped into accepting a post that summarily broke her home.

A marriage of 15 years was dissolved in minutes unilaterally with her husband dispatching a 'talaqnama' to her while she was at her parent's place in Kashipur, Uttarakhand recuperating from an illness.

Shaira recounts, "I spoke to him over the phone last year where he said he had left me. Then one day he said he was sending some property papers and that I must accept the post. I did. And when I opened it, there lay before me a divorce deed (talaqnama)."

Shaira alleges she went through a harrowing time in the last 15 years of marriage. She was mentally tortured by demands of dowry initially. After she had two children, all subsequent pregnancies were forcefully aborted by her husband. Despite all this, she never protested, just so that she could save her home and not bring disrepute to her family.

'KHULA' DIVORCE

When I asked her mother about why she let her daughter suffer and not demand a 'khula', a divorce initiated by a woman, her mother claimed she were unaware of her daughter's plight. Shaira's mother, Firoza Bano, however later confessed that the family wanted to save the marriage from breaking somehow as they feared disrepute. She said, "Since day one he (Shaira's husband) would say I will seek talaq but we are simple people and wanted our daughter to remain settled in the marriage."

Though Shaira has an MA in Sociology she has never worked. She was always financially dependent on her husband, who offered her a paltry 'meher' amount of about 16,000 rupees at the time of talaq. It is this 'unfairness' she says she has challenged but with this she has taken on those who refuse to entertain any thought of change to the Muslim personal laws.

FIGHT AGAINST TRADITIONS



Her brother Arshad told us "The Muslim Personal Law Board has filed a petition against us saying we are going against the rules of Islam and they will not allow any change."

Member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Kamal Farooqi told us that the Board has filed a rejoinder to Shaira's petition. According to him, "Personal laws cannot be tampered with or changed for one case alone. Today they will want to change talaq laws, tomorrow they will intrude into other aspects like inheritance. This is unacceptable."

The AIMPLB is not alone in its opposition. No political party is willing to push for changes in personal laws. So much so that even the BJP that has been vocal on uniform civil code skirted the issue. Minority affairs minister Nejma Heptullah said that a "demand for change should come from within the community." The JD(U), Congress, Samajwadi party all voiced a similar opinion.

However, Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate KTS Tulsi took a different stand, "Why can't the judiciary decide on something that is related to human right? Most Muslim countries have also done away with triple talaq, why can't we?"

Even as Shaira's case lies pending in the apex court, a petition against triple talaq has managed to get 50,000 signatures. The road ahead still looks difficult for Shaira. But will she like Shah Bano be able to compel the court to step into a controversial debate and deliver justice?

Also read:

Time for Uniform Civil Code? 50,000 Muslims sign up against triple talaq

