The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Union government to provide data on the number of cases registered under the 2019 Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Act, which criminalises triple talaq, Bar and Bench reported.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar was hearing a batch of petitions filed by Muslim organisations challenging the constitutionality of the Act.

Triple talaq allows a Muslim man to instantly divorce his wife by pronouncing “talaq” three times.

The Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Act criminalises instant triple talaq, or Talaq-e-Biddah, and provides for imprisonment of up to three years for any man who seeks to divorce his wife in this manner.

The Act was notified on July 31, 2019, and came into force with retrospective effect on September 19, 2018. The law was implemented over a year after instant triple talaq was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on August 22, 2017.

On Wednesday, the court asked the Union government to provide the number of first information reports filed under Sections 3 and 4 of the Act, and any challenges pending before the High Courts against the enactment, Live Law reported.

Section 3 of the Act makes it illegal for a Muslim husband to pronounce talaq on his wife, while Section 4 states that he can be imprisoned for up to three years and fined for this practice.

“Parties to file written submissions on both sides,” the bench said. “Check up and give us data on number of FIRs registered.”

During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Union government, told the court that statistics would be important to show whether the practice continued and if women were coming forward or not. “This is required to protect the women and should be deterrent,” he said.

On an argument by the petitioners that the Act prescribed disproportionate punishment, Mehta said that several other laws protecting the rights of women carried more than three years of imprisonment, Live Law reported.

Advocate Nizam Pasha, representing the petitioners, said that a man abandoning his wife was not a criminal offence if done by members of any other community, Bar and Bench reported. “Triple talaq is also not prevalent in other communities,” Mehta said in response.

Senior Advocate MR Shamshad, also representing the petitioners, told the bench that the matter could be handled by the existing domestic violence laws. A separate criminal law was unnecessary, he added.

“In matrimonial cases, even if the wife is beaten up, it takes months to register an FIR,” Live Law reported. “Here, FIR is registered for simple pronouncement.”

In response, Mehta said: “In no civilised section, such a practice [triple talaq] is there.”

The bench then adjourned the matter.

Following the enactment of the Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Act in 2019, several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court challenging it.

According to the petitioners, the law served no purpose as the Supreme Court had already declared the practice as unconstitutional. The petitioners have also noted that the intention behind the Act was the punishment of Muslim husbands and not the abolition of triple talaq.

The law was introduced as a penal legislation specific to a class of persons based on their religious identity, the petitioners have said.

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