Supreme Court to examine legal validity of ‘triple talaq’

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday said it will not go into the question of Uniform Civil Code, but confine itself only to the legal validity of “triple talaq” raised in various petitions.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and Justices N.V. Ramana and D.Y. Chandrachud gave the clarification when the counsel sought to know whether UCC was one of the issues to be taken up for consideration.

“UCC is not an issue at all in this case. It is a pure question of law. It is more of a human rights issue,” the CJI said.

The bench asked the counsel to submit a list of points to be decided by the court Thursday. The issues include whether the apex court has the jurisdiction to examine the constitutional validity of the religious practices under challenge, such as talaq-e-bidat, nikah halala, and polygamy.

The court will also see whether “triple talaq” is an integral part of religion and, therefore, neither protected by Article 25 of the Constitution nor immune from judicial review.

It will decide whether polygamy is neither a positive tenet of Islam nor a valid religious practice, and whether instantaneous “triple talaq” in one sitting (talaq-e-bidat) in the absence of witnesses and without any attempt at reconciliation is legally permissible.

The Centre is opposing “triple talaq”, maintaining that it is not an essential religious practice in Islam.