First case of triple talaq registered in Delhi, man held

New Delhi : A 38-year-old man has been arrested for giving instant triple talaq to his wife, the first such case registered in the national capital since the practice was criminalised, police said on Saturday.

The arrest was made on Friday at 11.00 pm after a 30-year-old woman lodged a complaint against her husband in north Delhi's Bara Hindu Rao police station. However, the man got a bail by a court on Saturday, said a police officer.

"On June 23, her husband pronounced talaq three times upon her and sent a fatwah on WhatsApp mentioning that triple talaq was pronounced," said the Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Nupur Prasad.

The DCP said he has been booked under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019. Parliament, on August 1, approved the bill that makes instant triple talaq a criminal offence. According to police, this is the first such case registered in the national capital. Police said the couple got married in 2011, and the man runs a shop in Kamla Market in north Delhi.

In a complaint, the woman alleged that she was being harassed for dowry by her husband and his family. She alleged that on June 28, "under a well-planned conspiracy", her husband and his family members had come to her room and forced him to pronounce triple talaq.

Thereafter, he pronounced the word talaq three times, and they all asked her to leave the house along with her six-year-old son, she alleged. "I came to my parental house, but parents were not present as they were outside the country. After two days, they sent my brother fatwah on WhatsApp that divorce is complete and she cannot come back again," the woman said in her complaint. Further investigation is underway, police said.