President Ram Nath Kovind has Promulgated an Ordinance banning the practice of instant triple talaq. This was  stated by the Ministry of Law and Justice in a Gazette notification late last evening.

Earlier, Union Cabinet had approved an Ordinance yesterday making instant triple talaq a punishable offence with a three-year jail term. Talking  to reporters, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, under the Ordinance, the crime will be recognised only when the woman herself or her blood relative files a complaint against the husband. He also said the case may be dropped, if the duo reaches a compromise, but only if the wife approaches the magistrate.

Mr Prasad also said the magistrate can grant the accused bail, on reasonable grounds, but only after hearing his wife. The wife will be given custody of the child and will be entitled to maintenance, as decided by the magistrate.

The Law Minister said, there was a compelling necessity and an overpowering ugency to approve the Ordinance. Mr Prasad said that triple talaq was not allowed to be ended by a Parliamentary law because of ambiguity and vacillation of the Congress party for pure vote bank politics.