It has been an eventful week for the judiciary in India, with one landmark ruling after another being delivered in quick succession. On 22 August, the Supreme Court struck down the practice of instant triple talaq as ‘unconstitutional’. The Quint has compiled a list of our best analyses and opinion pieces on the historic verdicts.
Read, learn, share:
1) Analysis: Trying to Make Sense of the Supreme Court’s Triple Talaq Decision
The Quint’s Legal Correspondent Vakasha Sachdev decodes the Supreme Court’s triple talaq judgment. Watch as he breaks down what the judges said, and what this means for us going forward.
2) Opinion: SC Strikes Down Triple Talaq, But Does Little for Gender Justice
Welcoming the triple talaq verdict, former Additional Solicitor General of India. Indira Jaising, raises an important question in her article for The Quint – why did the court once again dodge the question of whether the law violated the rights of women since it discriminates against women based on sex?
While religious consciousness does bind people together, this does not answer the question of what if this consciousness violates equality for women? Are all matters of faith protected by the right to freedom of religion? What if tomorrow, it is argued that witchcraft is part of faith and must be protected by the right to freedom of religion?
The only solution to this issue, Jaising argues, is to consider marriage a civil contract, entered into voluntarily between any two persons, with well-defined rights for women on the breakdown of the marriage. Read the full article here.
3) Opinion: Muslim Women Are Cheering – But So Is BJP
Any Indian who believes in gender justice has to celebrate this progressive ruling by the apex court, senior scribe Shuma Raha writes in her article for The Quint. Despite all the fine words about gender justice and women’s empowerment, the victory is a political one, she writes.
In other words, the BJP garners brownie points from two quarters: progressive Indians of every religious stripe; and Hindu nationalists who want to scrap Muslim personal law in its entirety. Both could weigh in favour of the BJP in 2019 and pave the path towards NDA 2.0.
Read the full article here.
4) End of Triple Talaq a Start, But Gender Justice Is a Long Way Away
Weighing in on the debate over Uniform Civil Code, Mayank Mishra argues how there is no need to integrate various codes of religion into one single code, if we can bring these personal laws of various communities in line with modern jurisprudence.
If legal pluralism is required to attain these goals, so be it. Let there be a Muslim Personal Law or a Hindu Personal Law. Let Scheduled Tribes have their own version of the civil code. And make all of them compatible with the broad principles of individual liberties and social justice. Subject them to the crucial test of gender justice.
Read the full article here.
5) Opinion: SC’s Triple Talaq Verdict a Boost as Well as a Challenge For Modi
In her piece for The Quint, Arati R Jerath writes that the Supreme Court’s triple talaq ruling is both a boost and a challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It’s a boost because the judgement validates his campaign against a pernicious practice that Muslim women have long struggled to get abolished. It’s a challenge because he must now affirm that he pursued this campaign for the right reasons – to help Muslim women in their fight for gender justice and equity – and not, as is widely perceived, as part of a Hindu majoritarian agenda to further diminish and ghettoise the Muslim community.
Read the full piece here.
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