The Honourable Supreme Court Strikes Down Triple Talaaq, Javed Akhtar Reacts

“Of course it’s  a welcome decision.Any law, personal  or otherwise,  which victimizes women must be removed. Many of  us have been shouting  about getting rid of the Triple Talaaq. I’ve spoken against  it  at various public events for close to 20 years. It’s a pity the decision to abolish this inhuman practice has come from outside the Muslim community. It should’ve come from the Muslim Personal Law Board long ago…

chaliye, koi baat nahin deraaye durust aaye. But with  joy at this abolition of an archaic and barbaric  practice there is  also a sense of despair and  apprehension about attempts being made to declare marriages null and avoid by branding them ‘Love Jihad’.  A 24-year old adult Hindu woman in Kerala who says she willfully married a Muslim man has been forced to  end her marriage  by the honourable Supreme Court and return to her parents. This according to me, is a shocking violation of  an indivudual’s right to privacy. The women has said she married the man of her own  choice. Are the courts now going to  pry into marriages to determine whether the union of legal  or not? While choosing partners for themselves should women and men consult the Government first? It is ridiculous, to say the least. So  while on the one hand I rejoice the honourable  Supreme Court’s decision to end the the practice of the instant Triple Talaaq, on the other hand I wonder if the courts are now moving into the most private spaces  in  our lives.”