For another day, the Rajya Sabha witnessed Government-Opposition confrontation over referring the Triple Talaq Bill to a Select Committee but failed to resolve the issue as the House was adjourned over the Opposition demand for taking up the Bill before any other listed legislative business. Leader of the House Arun Jaitley raised the issue of the validity of Opposition motions for referring the Bill to a Select Committee, again. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien repeated his ruling of Wednesday that the motions were valid as Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had allowed them.
However, Kurien said while ruling on the validity of the motions, he had not given any direction on the listing of the Bill for Thursday. In such a situation, he maintained, the Government had the right to decide when to take up the Bill. Unless the Government agreed, he could not take up the Bill.

As the Government wanted the listed GST (Compensation to States) Amendment Bill discussed first, the Opposition raised a noisy protest, forcing the Deputy Chairman to adjourn the House for the day.

After listening to heated arguments from both sides on the issue of referring the Bill to a Select Committee, Mr Kurien said the Opposition motions were not only valid but were now the property of the House.

Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had moved “The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 in the Upper House on Wednesday. The Bill makes instant divorce by any Muslim man to his wife a cognizable offence punishable with imprisonment up to three years.

As Jaitley said the Congress-led Opposition was opposed to the Bill, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad “we are not opposed to the Bill. We are for the Bill. But you must provide a solution in the Bill who will feed the family of the convicted person during his three-year jail term. There is no provision for that in the Bill.”

As the House was adjourned abruptly on Wednesday, after the Deputy Chairman declaring the Opposition motions as valid, the Opposition on Thursday insisted that the Talaq Bill be taken up immediately to “complete” Wednesday’s unfinished work. This was just as the House reassembled after lunch at 2 p.m.