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Updated: Aug 15, 2019 08:25 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday his government took steps to help Muslim women stop living in fear and removed the practice of triple talaq as he addressed the nation in his sixth straight Independence Day speech.

“The fear of triple talaq kept haunting Muslim women in our country, which is why we took the step to criminalise instant talaq,” PM Modi said in his Independence speech.

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“Remember how scared Muslim women were, those who suffered due to the practice of triple talaq, but we ended that. Many Islamic countries do not have this but in India, to give justice to Muslim mothers and sisters, we hesitated. If we can remove Sati, when we can take strong steps against female infanticide, child marriage, why can we not remove triple talaq,” he said.

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The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage), Bill, 2019, which criminalises instant ‘triple talaq’ among Muslims and attracts a jail term of three years for the husband came into force on August 1.