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Zarina Siddiqui says she has been through hell ever since her wedding day in August 2013 Her husband has allegedly married multiple times since and woven a web of lies to cover them There has been mental and physical assault and extortion of money After which came letters of divorceBut Siddiqui wonrsquot let him get away She says her husband left out elements essential to the divorce process under Islamic lawmdashwitnesses and a mediation process So they are still married But there are others like Siddiqui left bewildered and distraught by a onesided divorceBenazir Heena recently approached the Supreme Court saying she was divorced by her husband through TalaqeHasan but the due process was not followed The 34yearold challenged the constitutionality of the divorce citing its discriminatory nature towards womenMaulana Saif AbbasThe case brought the spotlight back on the manipulation of the Islamic method of divorce by men looking for a quick release ldquoSeveral women have approached me with cases of Muslim men bending the laws to divorce wives at their whim and fancyrdquo says Shaista Ambar President of the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board Ambarrsquos petition in the apex court was instrumental in the abolishment and criminalisation of Triple Talaq in 2019She now plans to knock on the Supreme Courtrsquos door again to stop this ldquounilateral way of divorcingrdquo ldquoOur petition will demand a Muslim Marriage Act as per the Constitution much the same as the Hindu Marriage Act It petition will be filed in a couple of days the draft is already readyrdquo she saysIslam sanctions a few kinds of divorce The TalaqeRijrsquoi which gives the couple room to reconcile until the irrevocable TalaqeBarsquoin is pronounced Then there is the swift and painful TalaqulBiddat which apart from being unIslamic was struck out by the Supreme Court in 2017 A law passed in 2019 made it a criminal offence with jail term of three years for a Muslim man who commits the act Using TalaqulBiddat men could divorce spouses simply by repeating the word ldquoTalaqrdquo three times consecutively in person over email text or phone with or without witnessesShaista AmbarTalaqeRijrsquoi can be pronounced in two ways Through TalaqeHasan where ldquoTalaqrdquo is proclaimed by the husband three times over a course of three months or three menstrual cycles of the wife In TalaqeEhsan lsquoTalaqrsquo is said three times in one sitting but the divorce is complete only after iddahmdashthree menstrual cycles A window is left open for reconciliation sulah and hope is pinned on intimacy to mend relationsldquoA divorce becomes irrevocable when it is pronounced for the third time after the husband and wife are given enough time to reconcile between the two pronouncementsrdquo explains Maulana Saif Abbas Shahi Imam of the mosque at Lucknowrsquos Chhota ImambaraThen there is Khula initiated by the wife where she is ready to forego her mehrmdashthe monetary sustenance or gift given to her by the husband at the time of nikaahNone of these methods of divorce are valid if undertaken in a state of intoxication as a joke without the actual intent when the woman is menstruating oris pregnant without mediation efforts and without the presence of two sane witnesses Witnesses are even more important than the presence of the husband or wife who can be represented by agents or guardians in special cases It is also unlawful for the man to expel his wife from the house she resides in at the time of divorceBoth clauses were overlooked in Siddiquirsquos case On October 10 2019 her husband sent her a letter stating this was the first proclamation of divorce as per TalaqeRijrsquoi ldquoHe also accused me of having relations with another manrdquo says the 42yearold ldquoThe second letter came in November 2019 followed by a fatwa a legal Sharia ruling in January 2020 from a mufti at Lucknowrsquos Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama saying I was divorced All this while I kept trying to reach out to him but failedrdquoMaulana Abbas says that when he oversees divorce cases the number of which has increased considerably lately he ensures both sides are involved in the process ldquoIndian law does not permit for unilateral divorce by the husband and so we ask for the woman and her family to be duly notified and informedrdquo he saysldquoI got married in 2013 and went to Chennai with my husbandrdquo Siddiqui says It was the second marriage for both ldquoMy father even helped us financially to set up a home I was soon pregnant and my husband and inlaws sent me to live with my parents in Mumbra to ease the financial strain Our son was born in April 2014 but they did not allow me to return to ChennairdquoOnly in 2017 when their son was three years old did Siddiquirsquos husband turn up to meet him she says ldquoWhile I was pregnant I found out that he was not divorced from his first wife When confronted he said he couldnrsquot end that marriage as she had cervical cancer and he was her sole caregiverrdquo Siddiqui soon went to Chennai with her son only to be told to live in a hotelAll this while her family kept giving money to the inlaws to tide over financial difficulties ldquoI tried to make my marriage workrdquo she says Then Siddiqui heard that her husband was looking for a third wife on matrimonial sites A wedding was fixed with a woman in Lucknow where he used to travel for business She followed him there He put me up in a house without power supplyrdquo she says ldquoand I lived there with two children one from her previous marriage I was thrown out by the landlord when he stopped paying rentrdquo By involving some relatives from Lucknow she was able to stall the third marriageThis is when she says the physical abuse started ldquoHe beat me up so badly that I nearly diedrdquo she says ldquoIn 2019 he tried to divorce me using Triple Talaq which I rejected since it is unlawful in both Islam and by lawrdquo In August that year Siddiqui moved back in with her parents Then came the two divorce pronouncements by mail and the fatwaSiddiqui says she approached the Lucknow police to lodge an FIR against her husband but they didnrsquot take cognisance The Mumbai police took six months to lodge an FIR against him and his parents under the applicable sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Act 2019 It was finally lodged in February 2020 The case is in court while Siddiqui lives off her elderly parentsldquoSince Triple Talaq has been criminalisedrdquo says Ambar ldquothey Muslim men are finding other ways to shrug off responsibility There are no witnesses and they are washing their hands off any maintenance which they are obliged to provide the wiferdquoMaulana Abbas agrees He says the correct method of divorce gives ample time for reconciliation ldquoDivorce is irrevocable when given twice When a husband pronounces it once the couple can reach an understanding at any time Pronounced the second time it is still revocable and the couple can live as spouses without any formalities However if the couple is unable to live together and divorce is pronounced the third time it is final The due process has to be followed which looks more towards reconciliationrdquo Above all he adds ldquoTwo witnesses have to be present when the divorce is given even if the husband or wife is absent That cannotbe omittedrdquoMeanwhile Siddiqui awaits lawful action ldquoThese divorces are painting Islam in bad light globally The religion has laid down rules but its followers are manipulative The law must help me nowrdquo