The Supreme Court’s verdict on instant triple talaq has elicited a wide range of responses from within and outside the Muslim fold. While some of these responses betrayed sinister political and confessional motives, such as the congratulatory tweet from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the defiant statement from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, others expressed genuine appreciation for bringing a (legal) end to an obnoxious practice. Unlike in the case of the Shah Bano verdict in 1986, a significant number of Muslims came forward to welcome the verdict. Equally important, the opposition from sections of the Muslim community has been much less vehement than in 1986, partly because of the change in the political climate in the country.
There are three factors common between the Shah Bano verdict and the present one. First, the honourable judges strayed into the realm of Quranic exegesis in the process of explaining their decisions in both the cases. Second, both the verdicts were primarily aimed at protecting Muslim women from Muslim men, who weaponised faith in the...
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