The All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Monday submitted a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court saying Muslims resorting to triple talaq will face social boycott, PTI reported. This will help in reducing the number of triple talaq instances, the board said, adding that it would issue an advisory to qazis who perform nikahnama (marriage contract) to warn the grooms against triple talaq.

The advisory said the bride and bridegroom would be told to incorporate a condition in the marriage contract that would exclude the possibility of resorting to the “pronouncement of three divorces by her husband in one sitting”. The board said it would issue an advisory on this through its various platforms including its website, publications and social media.

However, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan said the AIMPLB was creating confusion among the Muslims in the country and said the guidelines suggested by the board were not sufficient. “It [AIMPLB] is a registered NGO which does not govern or employ the Qazis,” advocate Farah Faiz told PTI. Advocate Anand Grover said AIMPLB is a private organisation, its advice is not applicable to Qazis. “What if a husband does not agree to the advice,” he said.

The board’s affidavit will be examined by a five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice JS Khehar. AIMPLB said pronouncement of divorce three times was not the correct methods of divorce and the Shariat strongly condemned it. The board also said that it would start a “public movement” to ask people to refrain from practising triple talaq and if necessary “only one divorce should be resorted to and in any case three divorces in one go should not be resorted to”, The Indian Express reported.

On May 18, the apex court had reserved its verdict on the triple talaq case. It is expected to pass its order on the constitutional validity of the practice soon. The Centre had sought to de-link the social practice from the tenets of Islam by stressing that it was a violation of gender equality. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board had told the Supreme Court that the practice of triple talaq was a matter of faith, and ruled out the question of constitutional morality and equity.