Now, lawyer of triple talaq victim Ishrat Jahan joins BJP in Kolkata

KOLKATA: Nazia Elahi Khan, activist and lawyer of triple talaq victim Ishrat Jahan, on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here.

Khan joined the BJP in presence of Mukul Roy and other party leaders.

Ishrat Jahan, one of the petitioners in the triple talaq case, had joined the BJP on December 31, 2017.

Ishrat was one of the five petitioners in the triple talaq case. Her husband had divorced her over the phone from Dubai in 2014 by uttering 'talaq' thrice.

The Lok Sabha on December 28 passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, that criminalises instant triple talaq and makes it punishable by up to three years imprisonment for the husband, a development hailed by the government as "historic" but disapproved of by a section of the opposition.

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on August 22 declared the divorce pratice of triple talaq 'illegal' saying it was 'void' and 'unconstitutional'.

Under the proposed law, instant triple talaq in any form --spoken, in writing or by electronic means such as email, SMS and WhatsApp -- would be illegal and void.

The proposed law would be applicable to the entire country except in Jammu and Kashmir. It would make instant talaq punishable by a jail term of upto three years and a fine, and would be a cognisable, non-bailable offence.

There is provision for subsistence allowance from the husband for the livelihood and daily supporting needs of the wife as also of the dependent children. The wife would also be entitled to the custody of minor children.