It has been two years since the central government passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 (on July 30), thereby criminalising the practice of triple talaq. To mark the occasion and to throw light on how the law is not yet entirely fool-proof, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), an autonomous organisation — comprising Muslim women who have been demanding a codified Muslim family law that prohibits discriminatory practices such as polygamy, divorce, halala, muta, and underage marriages — held a press conference at the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh on Thursday afternoon.

Noorjehan Safia Niaz, co-founder of BMMA, and another member, Zubeida Khatoon, explained that the law has helped tremendously in bringing down the cases of triple talaq in the community. Speaking to mid-day, Safia said, “There is no doubt that the law has helped greatly…but the problem lies with the police who are hesitant to register a victim's complaint. Police stations remain the first institution which the victim approaches for redressal, but if the police themselves don’t register a complaint, then what is the point of the law? The attitude of police towards women victims is terrible.”