Shayara Banu had convinced herself that if she was docile enough, her husband would not carry out his oft-repeated threat of divorcing her. The mother of two, a sociology postgraduate, says she tried not to argue when she was told she could not work or visit relatives.
Not even when she was routinely beaten, and forced to go through six abortions that made her a physical and mental wreck. Then, a year ago, when she was very sick, her husband sent her away from their home in Allahabad to her parents’ place in Uttarakhand. “Within months, he sent me a letter that had the word talaq written on it thrice, ending our 15-year marriage. I have not been allowed to see my children ever since,” Shayara says.
The 35-year-old has approached the Supreme Court seeking not just justice for herself, but a ban on triple talaq, polygamy and halala, the custom that mandates that if a woman wants to go back to her husband following divorce, she must first consummate her marriage with another man. [The Indian Express] Read more
