How triple talaq helped my friend escape an abusive marriage
This story is about my friend Aafreeda* and what she told me about her abusive marriage.
It was around 2.10am when a phone call roused Aafreeda from her sleep. She shuddered with fear and jumped out of bed and switched off the television and rushed towards the front door. Her husband Zuhair* greeted her with a slap across her face.
He was drenched in sweat and reeked of alcohol. He pulled her up by her hair and asked why she didn’t open the door when he called her.
“Who were you sleeping with, you whore?” he shouted.
Aafreeda broke down.
He slapped her again. “Answer me, who was here before me or else I shall slap you again.”
“Please stop. No one was here. I’ve made dinner and have been waiting for you since 8pm. You said you would be home early today.”
He pushed her against the wall and then walked towards the dining table where the food lay and threw the dishes on the ground. One after the other, saying “There I’ve eaten the food now.”
She lay on the floor holding her swollen head and broken life, mumbling to herself enough was enough. They had been married for six years. The next morning she packed her bags and left.
One would imagine what happened next - the woman files for divorce, presses charges of domestic abuse, and the man eventually signs the "talaqnama", setting her free.
No, nothing close to this actually took place. Little did she know her ordeal had just begun.
Zuhair refused to give her divorce. Despite facing all forms of horrifying domestic abuse and violence, Aafreeda wanted it to simply end. But he was hell-bent on not granting her talaq. He was afraid it would malign his family’s name.
During the marriage, she had also (from her savings and hard-earned money) invested in an apartment with him. Rightfully during the divorce proceedings, she had asked him for her share in the property. He refused.
Being the "man" proved more beneficial for him. When a woman initiates "khula" she may be asked to forego her right to "mehr" and other items. Still, in the case of "khula", the man has to pronounce talaq to the woman on request of the woman. His intention was to divorce her without having to pay a paisa. Bordering on a mental breakdown, Aafreeda consulted her lawyer who suggested that she should initiate "khula".
The lawyer said her husband won’t divorce her and marry again till she writes the property in his name. The agony and the mental harassment the woman had to endure was unbearable.
After years of abuse, Aafreeda had walked out from the marriage to try and survive. Nearly two years went by in vain. Zuhair refused to say the three words - talaq, talaq, talaq - that would eventually grant her freedom.
Finally, her lawyer gave her an idea. During one of the negotiation meetings, the lawyer instructed her to avoid any written/electronic communications with him in relation to the terms of settlement as the issues were not final at that time. She handed over the paperwork for draft settlement terms to him.
Zuhair became furious and started to abuse her after she refused to email the draft terms. He stormed out of the room, leaving her crying in the lawyer’s office. But this dramatic encounter led to events that finally changed her life.
In his impulsive state, Zuhair next evening sent an email to her with the draft document with unjust financial terms. One section of the terms of settlement was talaq and the other the unfair financial terms.
Dejected, she showed her lawyer the email, and he congratulated her saying, “Now you are free, he has conveyed talaq to you in writing.”
Let me explain legally what transpired:
As per Section 2 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872: “Document” means any matter expressed or described upon any substance by means of letters, figures or marks, or by more than one of those means, intended to be used, or which may be used, for the purpose of recording that matter.” Further, section 2 of the Act states that: the expressions “Certifying Authority”, “digital signature”, “Digital Signature Certificate”, “electronic form”, “electronic records”, “information”, “secure electronic record”, “secure digital signature” and “subscriber” shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The Indian Evidence Act also deals with the Admissibility of Electronic Records. 65B - Admissibility of electronic records: “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, any information contained in an electronic record which is printed on a paper, stored, recorded or copied in optical or magnetic media produced by a computer (hereinafter referred to as the computer output) shall be deemed to be also a document, if the conditions mentioned in this section are satisfied in relation to the information and computer in question and shall be admissible in any proceedings, without further proof or production of the original, as evidence of any content of the original or of any fact stated therein of which direct evidence would be admissible.”
This essentially means that the printout of an email or CD or DVD of a document will be admitted as evidence by a court, just like any other document, provided that the “conditions” mentioned in the section are complied with.
For a "talaqnama" to be finalised and certified, one requires two witnesses as signatories on the document. When one emails the document (talaqnama) it becomes a "document" and needs no signatories, as it self-declared (virtue of being emailed from the husband who declares talaq).
Aafreeda, upon learning this, immediately called up Zuhair saying talaq had already taken place over email, leaving the property issue to be resolved.
Dumbfounded, he discovered she was correct. This shocker brought him to the table where he agreed to pay back the investment made by her for the jointly purchased flat. Her victory was achieved when he ultimately also agreed to sign the joint document of settlement wherein the talaq by “mubarrat” was also recorded.
This incident might be rare, but is true. Triple talaq despite the contorted image being projected by certain sections has its benefits and in this case exemplifies it strongly.
Despite the ongoing debate over triple talaq being vociferously deliberated by the five-judge Supreme Court bench in the capital, this case also highlighted a rare example of how a Muslim woman won her freedom by making her husband pronounce the three words (talaq, talaq, talaq) to end the matrimonial horror.
The episode detailed above might be a rarity, but in no way do I adjudicate that women don’t face problems when men who hurl the three words easily to end marriages.
Women across the board (especially from the underprivileged sections of the community) have been left shattered mentally, socially outcast and destitute after their husbands used "triple talaq" to throw them out of their houses. No matter how debatable the subject, there is always another side to the story.
(*Names have been changed to protect their identity.)