Was forced to undergo six abortions by husband: Shayara Bano, who has challenged triple talaq practice in SC

New Delhi: Shayara Bano, who has filed a petition in the Supreme Court appealing for triple talaq to be declared unconstitutional, has said that her husband forced her to undergo six abortions.

Bano, who hails from Uttarakhand, told 'The Times of India' that she petitioned the apex court as she was no longer able to bear the ordeal and wanted justice for her.

While narrating her ordeal, Bano said her husband Rizwan Ahmed forcibly administered her pills that ultimately ruined her health. Bano further said that she wanted to be with her children, who are still with her husband.

Bano knocked at the doors of the SC after her husband last October sent a letter to her with "talaq, talaq, talaq" written on it.

Petitioner Shayara Bano has challenged the constitutionality of Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 in so far as it seeks to recognise and validate polygamy, triple talaq and nikah halala.

She has also challenged the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 saying that it fails to provide Indian Muslim women with protection from bigamy.

Talaq-e-bidat is a Muslim man divorcing his wife by pronouncing more than one talaq in a single tuhr (the period between two menstruations), or in a tuhr after coitus, or pronouncing an irrevocable instantaneous divorce at one go (unilateral triple-talaq).

A high-level committee set up by the Central government to review the status of women in India has reportedly recommended a ban on the practice of oral, unilateral and triple talaq (divorce) and polygamy.

As a debate over gender bias in temples and places of worship has gripped the country, All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) president Shaista Ambar has called for nullifying the triple talaq system.

Terming the triple talaq system as un-Islamic and an evil practice, Shaista said she would leave no stones unturned to nullify the instant way of divorcing.

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board is likely to oppose any move to scrap triple talaq and the Shayara Bano case which had called it unconstitutional in the Supreme Court.

As per a report by ToI, the AIMPLB had last week decided to thwart any attempt by the Centre or "any authority" in the Muslim personal law to scarp triple talaq.