The Supreme Court has asked the Centre and others to respond to a PIL seeking a direction to frame and implement uniform procedural safeguards and guidelines governing all forms of ‘talaq’ under the Muslim Personal Law.A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on October 16 also asked the Centre and others to spell out their respective stand on the petitioner’s challenge to the validity of ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’.‘Talaq-e-Hasan’ is a form of divorce among Muslims where a man can dissolve a marriage by pronouncing the word ‘talaq’ once every month over a three-month period. Under ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’, a divorce gets formalised after the third utterance of the word ‘talaq’ in the third month if cohabitation has not resumed during this period.However, if cohabitation resumes after the first or second utterance of talaq, the parties are assumed to have reconciled.In 2017, the top court declared instant triple ‘talaq’ — talaq-e-biddat — prevalent among the Muslim community, as unconstitutional, terming it arbitrary and violative of the fundamental rights of women.The bench clubbed the petition with another petition filed by a Muslim woman against the validity of ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’ given by her husband, which is pending before the top court.The fresh petition sought a direction to the authorities to declare ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’ and other forms of unilateral extra-judicial ‘talaq’ an evil that needed to be banned.It also sought a declaration that contracting a subsequent marriage without the free, prior and informed consent of the existing spouse, by concealing or suppressing such intention, is arbitrary and unconstitutional.It sought a direction to the authorities to provide, in a retrospective and continuing manner, adequate economic and social protection measures for divorced women and their children affected by arbitrary forms of ‘talaq’.It wanted the Centre to “frame and implement uniform procedural safeguards and legally enforceable guidelines governing all forms of ‘talaq’/divorce under Muslim personal law, so as to ensure fairness, reconciliation, transparency and protection of the fundamental rights of women guaranteed under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution”.The PIL demanded Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 should be declared unconstitutional insofar as it recognised and validated ‘Talaq-e-Hasan’ as a valid form of divorce.It also sought a direction to the Centre to frame comprehensive, gender-just and religion-neutral procedural safeguards governing dissolution of marriage, including divorce under personal laws, in conformity with Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.While Article 14 pertains to equality before law, Article 15 deals with prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Article 21 pertains to protection of life and personal liberty.The sought a declaration that “absence of statutory safeguards regulating polygamy under Muslim personal law, insofar as it permits a Muslim man to contract multiple marriages without ensuring equality, dignity, informed consent, financial security and constitutional protection to the existing wife/wives, is arbitrary, discriminatory and violative of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution”.