Physically challenged woman from Thane alleges husband gave triple talaq on WhatsApp

A physically disabled woman from Maharashtra’s Thane district has alleged that her husband divorced her by sending a ‘triple talaq’ message on her mobile phone, police said on Thursday. The Bhoiwada police said that the 23-year-old woman complained about the same and sought a legal opinion.

The woman had got married to a man from Kalyan on May 18, 2014. She alleged that her in-laws constantly harassed her and sometime back her husband demanded Rs 10 lakh from her and threw her out of the house.

The woman who is now living with her parents in Bhiwandi alleged that that she recently received the 'triple talaq' message on WhatsApp from her husband. When she tried to call him, he refused to speak to her, senior inspector Kalyan Karpe said, quoting the complaint.

He said the victim approached the police with her complaint, saying she does not want to divorce her husband. “We are yet to register the complaint and are taking a legal opinion on it,” the official said.

The Supreme Court had in 2017 ruled as unconstitutional the divorce procedure known as "triple talaq," in which a Muslim man can instantly leave his wife by simply uttering the Arabic word "talaq" - which means divorce - three times. 

Thereafter, the government in September 2018 promulgated an ordinance declaring "triple talaq" as illegal and void, that can be punishable with a jail term of three years for the husband.

Most of the 18 crores Muslims in India are Sunnis governed by the Muslim Personal Law for family matters and disputes.

These laws include the practice of "triple talaq" whereby men can divorce by simply saying "talaq' three times – and not necessarily consecutively, but at any time, and by any medium, including telephone, text message or social media post.