The Kozhikode Police arrested a man on Friday for allegedly divorcing his wife by uttering talaq thrice, PTI reported. It is the first case in Kerala after the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 was implemented. The man was arrested after his wife approached the Thamarassery Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, which issued a warrant.

EK Ussam was booked under Section 3 of the new law, which makes the pronouncement of talaq in any form illegal, and Section 4 that provides the punishment, which may extend to a three-year imprisonment and a penalty.

The arrest warrant was reportedly issued last Thursday and the accused is currently out on bail, NDTV reported. “The man took his wife abroad after their marriage to a country in the Gulf region,” the woman’s lawyer, Anwar Sadique, was quoted as saying. “Soon, he started abusing and assaulting her. He then brought her back to India and gave her triple talaq on August 1. He is now married to another woman.”

Sadique said that the woman’s gold items were still with the man and that he had not given her any of her rights when he divorced her and got married to someone else.

“On the basis of the directions of the magistrate, he was arrested and produced before the court,” PTI quoted a senior police official as saying.

The complainant said that her husband said talaq three times in front of her parents after coming to her home. Meanwhile, the family of the accused denied all the allgations, and claimed that the couple had reached an agreement for a mutual divorce.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, which made triple talaq a criminal offence was passed in the Rajya Sabha on July 30. President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the bill on August 1, which transformed the bill into a law.

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