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for divorce as it is "destructive of the "Muslim women have been given political person from a government -
matrimonial bond", the Delhi high talaq over Skype, Facebook and even Centre or state - can feature in the
court has ruled. text messages. There is no protection advertisements. However, the PM and
against such arbitrary divorce. They CM's picture can be published together
The court upheld a divorce granted by have their hands tied while the guillo- in an advertisement.
a family court in 2012 to a man who tine of divorce dangles perpetually
said he was subjected to cruelty by his ready to drop at the whims of their Maintenance is not for lazy
wife for being overweight and his al- husbands who enjoy undisputed idles
leged failure to satiate her sexual de- power," Shayara Bano's petition said.
sires. The woman challenged the order Observing that the law neither helps
in the high court. Bano, who was divorced through triple the lazy nor does it want an army of
talaq after 13 years of marriage, said self made lazy idles, a family court has
"The calling of names and hurling of in her plea that "such discrimination rejected a Mumbai-based BSc
abuses such as 'Haathi', 'Mota Haathi' and inequality expressed in the form of graduate's plea seeking interim main-
and 'Mota Elephant' by the appellant unilateral triple talaq is abominable." tenance from her farmer husband.
(woman) in respect of her husband -
even if he was overweight, is bound to Her petition was taken up along with "A lady who is fighting a petition filed
strike at his self respect and self es- the suo motu proceedings initiated by for divorce cannot be permitted to sit
teem," justice Vipin Sanghi said. the apex court to examine the need to idle and to put burden on the husband,
protect Muslim women. demanding alimony from him during the
The woman had contended the family pendency of the petition. Section 24
court relied on "vague and non-spe- CM, Ministers can be fea- (relating to maintenance) is not meant
cific" allegations while granting the tured in Govt. Ads to create an army of persons who will
divorce. She argued he failed to give sit idle waiting for a dole to be awarded
specific instances of alleged cruelty The Supreme Court has allowed publi- by her husband," the court said.
with dates, time and particulars. cation of photos of chief ministers and
governors besides Union and state In her petition the woman alleged that
The high court, however, rejected this ministers in advertisements, modifying her husband had treated her with cruelty
argument. "When two parties are in a its own verdict from last year that only and failed to provide her basic day-to-day
marital relationship, neither is ex- the President, Prime Minister and needs. She further claimed that her par-
pected to maintain a logbook and note Chief Justice of India could feature in ents were very poor and they did not
down therein each and every instance government advertisements. have the capacity to maintain her. The
of matrimonial offence committed by woman said that he owned an electron-
the other," justice Sanghi said. The relaxation comes at a time when ics store and earned a monthly income of
the model code of conduct is already in Rs 80,000. She sought an interim main-
Triple Talaq over arbitrary place in poll-bound Bengal, Tamil Nadu tenance of Rs 15,000 per month.
medium to be examined and Assam. All three had challenged the
by SC apex court's order last May along with The husband, who is based in a village
the Centre and four other states. in the state, countered her claims and
The Supreme Court has decided to ex- said that due to the scarcity of rain he
amine the legality of triple talaq by A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and had lost his income from agriculture.
entertaining a Muslim woman's petition P C Ghose, however, imposed a rider, He also alleged that it was the woman
that this mode of divorce be declared a minister's photo could be published who had deserted him as she did not
unconstitutional as it allowed Muslim only in place of the PM's or chief want to live in the village and was now
men to treat women like "chattel". minister's image. This means only one living in a multistory home.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
PR COMMUNICATION AGE May 2016 33
