Bareilly, Oct 12: Days after Centre submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court and opposed the practice of triple talaq, another incident has been reported in Bareilly where a Muslim man gave tripple talaq to his wife after she scolded him for stealing mobile. The husband allegedly assaulted his wife before giving tripple talaq to her. He then threw his wife out of the house along with two children. The incident has once again raised question on the practice of triple talaq in Muslim culture.

The victim was identified as Shabnam Bi. A man named Jameel Ahmad had lodged a police complaint on Sunday that Shabnam’s husband Azad stole his mobile phone from his shop. After police left Shabnam’s house after questioning Azad, she got angry and rebuked her husband for the crime he committed. Azad, who was drunk, then started beating his wife. When Shabnam’s kids intervened to rescue their mother, Azad assaulted them too. Azad then gave tripple talaq to Shabnam and threw his family out of the house.

“After they left, I got angry at my husband for stealing the mobile. He then started physically assaulting me. When my eldest son, Mustaq, intervened, Azad assaulted him too. He abused my three other kids. He then gave me triple talaq and threw us out of the house,” Shabnam was quoted as saying by Times of India. Azad then sat at the gate with a weapon and threatened them to kill them if they tried to enter the house again. Shabnam’s cousin Mohammad Arif also revealed that Azad had been beating his wife ever since they got married 20 years ago. (ALSO READ: Centre can hold referendum on triple talaq: Zafaryab Jilani, AIMPLB member)

After the incident, Shabnam met several cleric to know whether talaq is valid because Azad was drunk. “The clerics told us that if Azad remembers in the morning that he gave talaq to his wife in the night, the divorce is legal. Azad told us he remembered giving talaq,” said Mohammad Arif. However Shabnam accepted the divorce given by Azad, but she lodged a police complaint against him demanding strict action for threatening her kids. “I have accepted that I am divorced. As he has left me, I have no other option. However, Azad has issued several life threats to me and children; I am scared about our safety. He can attack us again. Police should keep him in jail,” the woman said.

Azad, who was arrested under section 151 of CrPC for disrupting the peace, was produced before the court of sub-divisional magistrate. However he was released after gave a written submission that he will not physically assault Shabnam and the children. The police refused to intervene in the divorce matter calling it a personal issue.

The Centre has recently submitted an affidavit in Supreme Court for abolishing the practice of triple talaq. The Ministry of Law and Justice, in its affidavit, referred to constitutional principles like gender equality, secularism, international covenants, religious practices and marital law prevalent in various Islamic countries to drive home the point that the practice of triple talaq and polygamy needed to be adjudicated upon afresh by the apex court.