A man in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district was fined Rs 2 lakh by a local panchayat for practising triple talaq, according to a report in The Telegraph. On June 1, after quarrelling with his wife, the man had said talaq three times.

The panchayat, consisting of members from the Turk community, also asked him to pay the sum equal to the amount the woman’s father had to pay for the marriage three years ago. He was asked to return whatever he had received as dowry to his divorced wife, besides paying an additionally Rs 60,000 in “meher” for her, The Times of India reported. “Meher” is a mandatory payment promised by the groom or the groom’s father to the bride at the time of marriage.

The panchayat was attended by members of the community from 52 villages, reported The Indian Express. “For the last two months, community members have been regularly holding meetings in villages, asking people to avoid uttering talaq three times in a go,” Shahid Hussain, a co-ordinator of the Turk community panchayat told the newspaper.

The panchayat’s order comes weeks after the All India Muslim Personal Law Board said in the Supreme Court that any Muslim resorting to triple talaq would face social boycott. On May 22, the AIMPLB in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court had said that the pronouncement of divorce three times was not the correct method of divorce and that the Shariat strongly condemned it.

The apex court has been hearing a batch of petitions related to triple talaq and is expected to pass its order on the constitutional validity of the practice in July. 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 AIMPLB 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.