A study has found that the Muslim women unequivocally voiced their dissent against the discriminatory practice of the triple talaq with 92.1% of them are seeking its ban. Oral talaq which is delivered through new media platforms like Skype, text messages, email and Whatsapp have become an increasing cause of worry for the women of the community.

The  study conducted by NGO Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), working for reforms in Muslim personal law, across 10 states found that a majority of the women are economically and socially disadvantaged and over half of them had been married before the age of 18 and had faced domestic violence.

The study has interviewed 4,710 women between July and December 2013 and it  revealed that 91.7% of the respondents has opposed a second marriage by their husbands. 73% of women surveyed are from families that earned less than Rs 50,000 annually and 55% are married before they reached 18. 82% of them had no property in their name and 78% were homemakers. Over 53% has reported having faced domestic violence in their lives while a majority are poorly educated.

"In 2014, of the 235 cases that came to women Sharia adalats that we run, 80% were of oral talaq,'' author of the study Zakia Soman said. Soman said, "Government has mollycoddled and appeased those groups which have taken upon themselves to speak for the community. It is our constitutional right. For groups that cite religious freedom as an argument, it is at the expense of women's rights.''

Co-author Noorjehan Safia Niaz said, "An overwhelming number of women demands reforms in Muslim personal law. They want an elaborate codified law based on the Quranic justice framework to cover matters such as age of marriage, divorce procedures, polygamy, maintenance and custody of children.''

By Premji