At a time when communalism and gau rakshaks are hot topics of debate in our country, if there is one issue that almost always makes national headlines for the right reasons – it is the issue of triple talaq. One of the ongoing debates is whether the practice of triple talaq among Muslims should be abolished or not, and bring Muslim marriages under the uniform civil code.
Triple talaq is a procedure of divorce, recognised by the Sharia Law in India. A Muslim man only has to pronounce the word ‘talaq’ thrice to divorce his wife. It is very quick, easy for the man and effectively catastrophic for the wife.
The number of divorced Muslim women has risen exponentially due to the practice of triple talaq. Taking advantage of the fact that many Muslim women still sadly remain uneducated, husbands choose to divorce over the flimsiest of reasons. And the agents used to send the message? Social media. No really. Muslim men have been increasingly taking to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and even email, to divorce their spouses.
Today, the world woke up to the news that a man from Hyderabad chose to divorce to his wife via a newspaper advertisement. As if triple talaq wasn’t ridiculous enough, he had to get it published for everyone to see. Without so much as a conversation with his wife, the man decided to end his marriage on a platform that thousands read every day. Wow. Heartfelt congratulations on being a gigantic prick, by the way.
Think you’d heard it all? Here are the different ways men have chosen to divorce their wives recently:
1. WhatsApp Talaq
In March this year, a New York-based man divorced his wife in Hyderabad via WhatsApp following family disputes. This incident came as another shocker highlighting the soaring trend of doling out ‘talaq’ through social media.
The husband – Hussain Quraishi had sent his wife a WhatsApp message saying “talaq” three times.
In another case, Mohammad Abdul Aqeel, an NRI, who divorced his wife, had set his WhatsApp profile picture as talaq written thrice. The girl’s parents had then expressed concern over misuse of talaq and had claimed that the person’s brother did the same thing to his wives.
Aqeel’s wife claimed that she got cheated by him, as he had promised to keep her happy after marriage and take her to the USA, but she was left in Hyderabad and her in-laws used her and elder daughter-in-law of the family as maids.
Aqeel had sent a text message on WhatsApp saying ‘talaq talaq talaq’ apart for putting up that profile picture.
2. Post card Talaq
Recently, a 38-year-old man, identified as Mohammed Haneef, was arrested after he sent a postcard with ‘triple talaq’ to divorce his wife.
According to reports, the man has accused his wife of ‘ridiculing him’, while the police has charged him with ‘harassing’ his wife.
The arrest came a day after his wife lodged a complaint against him. Haneef married the 26-year-old woman on March 9. The couple reportedly fought after which the man drank mosquito repellent and had to be taken to hospital, following which he sent the ‘triple talaq postcard’.
3. Talaq via text message
There have also been cases in which people sent text messages with talaq written thrice in them, to announce that they were divorcing their wives. Strange. Isn’t it?
4. Skype talaq
If online Nikah gained popularity in the Muslim community in India, could ‘e-talaq’ be far behind? The Hyderbadis have even used modern communication tools like Skype to sever marital ties in a jiffy.
According to reports, a housewife from Hyderabad had approached the cops with a complaint against her techie husband who had given her talaq through Skype video chat.
The victim s husband was in the US and had pronounced talaq while video chatting with her on Skype.
5. Phone talaq
Apart from newspaper advertisement, WhatsApp and postcard, there have been several cases in which the husbands called up their wives just to say ‘talaq, talaq, talaq’ and long-term relationships were ended within seconds without even giving second thoughts!
Not just Hyderabad, deserting the wife is a pan-India problem. Here’re some cases from various parts of India:
6. Talaq via Speed Post
In Jaipur, Afreen Rehman, 25, received the shock of her life after she received a mail through ‘Speed Post’. It was a divorce, or to be precise, ‘triple talaq’. The young woman had even moved the Supreme Court against Islam’s ‘triple talaq’ provision.
7. Talaq over beedi
In January this year, a Haryana man had divorced his wife by uttering ‘talaq’ three times after she refused to give him a packet of beedis. The woman in her complaint had alleged that Shahid divorced her when she did not give him the packet of beedis and beat her up.
When Shahid asked his children about the packet they told him that their mother had kept it and when she denied keeping it, he uttered ‘talaq’ thrice and kicked her out of the house.
8. Talaq after two hours of marriage
Irked over not getting a car in dowry, a man in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, uttered ‘talaq, talaq and talaq’ just two hours after his marriage. He kept taunting the bride all through the ceremony and later as well. After reaching home he gave the talaq to his wife.
