Family booked over talaq WhatsApp message

Mumbai: A case of triple talaq over WhatsApp has been registered in Bhiwandi. According to the complainant, her husband pronounced talaq through a WhatsApp message after she could not arrange the dowry amount demanded by him.

The Bhiwandi police has registered a case against members of the husband's family for allegedly harassing the woman for dowry. The victim has claimed that soon after her marriage in 2016, her husband  and their relatives began torturing her mentally and physically, demanding that she bring large sums of cash from her parents.

The police official said, “The woman came to her parents for a change as her husband was constantly making demands. However, her husband sent her a message of triple talaq on WhatsApp.

The Lok Sabha on December 28, 2017, passed a bill that criminalises triple talaq with three years’ imprisonment to errant husbands after the government rejected an overwhelming demand from the Opposition to refer the legislation to a parliamentary standing committee for detailed consideration. The bill seeks to declare the pronouncement of talaq-e-biddat by Muslim husbands as void and illegal in view of the Supreme Court verdict. It makes the act of pronouncing talaq-e-biddat a punishable offence. There is provision for subsistence allowance from the husband to the wife and dependent children. The wife is also entitled to custody of minor children. Under the proposed law, instant (triple) talaq in any form — spoken, in writing, or by electronic means such as email, SMS and WhatsApp — is illegal and void.

The proposed law will be applicable to the entire country except Jammu and Kashmir, and will make instant talaq a cognizable, non-bailable offence, punishable with a jail term of up to three years plus a fine.