Man tries to flee country after pronouncing 'triple talaq' on wife, arrested

New Delhi: A Delhi-based doctor was arrested from the Bengaluru airport for allegedly pronouncing instant "triple talaq", an offence under a law enacted in 2019 to protect Muslim women from this menace, on his wife, police said on Sunday.

The 40-year-old man was scheduled to leave for the United Kingdom from Bengaluru, they added.

The Delhi Police said the man has committed an offence under the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 by uttering "talaq, talaq, talaq" in one go.

The incident took place on October 13, 2022, but came to light earlier this month when the 36-year-old wife of the man approached police officials in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri.

Following enquiries and technical surveillance, the accused was traced to the Bengaluru airport, from where a Delhi Police team apprehended him on February 9 and subsequently, placed him under arrest.

Police have not revealed the accused's name to protect the victim's identity.

According to an FIR registered on February 1, the woman said she filed the complaint against her husband for pronouncing "triple talaq" on her on October 13, 2022.

In her complaint, the woman said she met the accused in 2018. He had introduced himself to her as a doctor preparing for a foreign medical graduates' examination, police said.

The couple got married in 2020 and had no children. A few months after their marriage, the accused told his wife that he wanted to prepare for certain exams and hence, wanted to stay away from her in a different part of Delhi to concentrate on his studies. Within a year of their marriage, the accused shifted to East Vinod Nagar in Kalyanpuri, while the woman continued to stay in Lajpat Nagar.

Days after her husband shifted to his new place, the woman noticed changes in his behaviour towards her and decided to confront him, police said.

On October 13 last year, as she visited his place in Kalyanpuri, she found out that he was living there with another woman and accused him of being in an extra-marital relationship. The accused allegedly beat her up and pronounced "triple talaq" on her in front of his live-in partner, a senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, told PTI.

"After a lot of persuasion from the doctor. We got married on 28/8/2020 at my house in Daryaganj. After getting married, we shifted on rent to Lajpat Nagar. My husband used to work at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in October 2020. He had an affair with a doctor around that time only. He used to hit me a lot every time when I asked him about her," the FIR stated.

According to the FIR, the accused pronounced "triple talaq" on the complainant, while Maulana Zuber, who was connected through a phone call, said they were not husband and wife anymore.

Asked why he wanted to give divorce to his wife, the accused told police that he did not wish to stay with her.

"On the complaint of the woman, we registered an FIR under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 and the accused was arrested from the Bengaluru airport on February 9 when he was leaving for the United Kingdom," the officer said.

On August 1, 2019, Parliament approved a bill that proposed making "instant "triple talaq" a criminal offence.

One of the relevant provisions of the law says: "Whoever pronounces Triple Talaq upon his wife shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and fine."

In 2017, a five-judge Constitution bench of the apex court, by a 3:2 majority, held as unconstitutional the Islamic practice of "triple talaq", which allowed a Muslim man to divorce his wife instantaneously just by saying "talaq" thrice.