talaq-e-biddat
Talaq-e-biddat (“innovated” talaq) consists of three pronouncements in one sitting, or a single pronouncement intended to be irrevocable, with no waiting period for reconciliation. In Shayara Bano (2017), the Supreme Court by a majority set it aside, holding it manifestly arbitrary and not protected as an essential religious practice.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 declares any such pronouncement, spoken, written or electronic, void and illegal (s.3) and punishes the husband with up to three years' imprisonment and fine (s.4). The wife is entitled to subsistence allowance and custody of minor children. The approved forms, ahsan and hasan, are not affected.
Example
After Shayara Bano and the 2019 Act, a husband who pronounced “talaq” three times over WhatsApp committed an offence and the marriage continued.
In Indian law
- Shayara Bano v. Union of India, 2017 INSC 785: talaq-e-biddat set aside as manifestly arbitrary
- Sections 3 and 4, Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019
See also
talaq · talaq-e-hasan · talaq-e-ahsan
Read more in the study notes
- Article 14: equality before law and the new doctrine of arbitrariness (Constitutional Law I)
- Development of Muslim law and its schools (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Sources of Muslim law (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Talaq and the modes of dissolution of a Muslim marriage (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Iddat and the legal effects of divorce (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Maintenance of Muslim women: personal law, the 1986 Act and section 144 BNSS (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)