JDU stages walkout in RS protesting Triple Talaq Bill

BJP ally Janata Dal (United) on Tuesday staged a walkout in Rajya Sabha protesting the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 which criminalises instant triple talaq among Muslims and attracts a jail term of three years for the husband.

Speaking on the Bill, JDU's Bashistha Narain Singh called the triple talaq a social abuse like child marriage and dowry system and emphasised that it needs to be eradicated by social awareness.

"A campaign is the need of the hour...the Bills raises questions... the issue needs awareness," he said and walked out of the House along with other party members.

Last week, when the bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha, the JDU had staged a walkout after the party's leader in the House Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh made an impassioned speech about the need for awareness in place of laws to banish retrograde customs.

Singh had also underscored that the bill, which seeks to make instant divorce punishable with three years in prison, could create an atmosphere of suspicion in the country.

Lok Sabha had on Thursday passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 after a prolonged debate.

-ANI