| | Najmunissa is determined to prove her divorce is invalid. ‘‘If anybody disagrees, let the person or organisation pay for my maintenance’’—Ritesh Uttamchandani |
THE All-India Muslim Personal Law Board’s (AIMPLB) much talked-about model nikahnama may have made news, but not in Behrampada.
In the narrow, sunshine-starved bylanes of this Muslim basti in Bandra (East), mention talaq and the stories tumble out—of men divorcing their wives by uttering the word thrice, sometimes for bizarre reasons like there was less salt in the salan (curry).
On Sunday, the AIMPLB advised that triple talaq should be ‘‘avoided’’.
But Najmunissa—the 28-year-old is fighting a bitter battle with her ex-husband after he pronounced talaq during an argument with her family—will tell you that only a strict law will work.
‘‘Usne dhoke se kiya (He cheated us),’’ Najmunissa—who makes a living giving tuitions—recalled, seated in her dingy, one-room house. ‘‘He called my family members saying he wanted to meet.
They got into an argument. Enraged, he just said talaq thrice and ended it.’’
During her year-long marriage, Najmunissa claims she faced harassment for dowry—she has dragged her husband to court.
A year after divorce, she is yet to receive her mehr of Rs 5,581.
But the Std XII dropout does not believe her divorce is valid.
‘‘Is this some kind of joke? How can he say talaq thrice and believe it is valid?’’
Najmunissa, who claims she’s an aalima (a madrasa graduate educated in Islamic teachings), argues that
Islam never advocates this form of talaq.
‘‘Our religion asks for talaq in three sittings with a period in between when the couple can try to sort out differences,’’ she explained.
While Najmunissa watched the AIMPLB’s announcement on TV, a couple of lanes away, Saira Sheikh (name changed) was not even aware the Muslim body existed.
‘‘Middle-class women know of the AIMPLB from newspapers or the TV.
But poorer women don’t know anything,’’ said Noorjehan Safia Niaz, co-director of Women’s Research Action Group.
‘‘The Board members have not made any attempt to reach out to women at grassroot levels.’’
Saira, who runs a telephone booth, was not even present for her divorce proceedings.
‘‘My ex-husband called my family members to a masjid and pronounced talaq. And it was accepted,’’ she said. ‘‘This form of talaq is not right.’’
Saira received her mehr, a meagre Rs 551.
‘‘It is a good idea to have mehr in gold or silver,’’ she said, appreciating the AIMPLB’s recommendation. ‘‘Money devalues over time.’’
But the girl’s opinion should be taken before the mehr amount is decided, she added.
‘‘Also, women should also have a right to divorce.’’ Najmunissa agrees.
‘‘Why should a woman always suffer?’’