Samajwadi Party leader Riyaz Ahmad claimed that the contentious triple talaq was meant to protect the lives of women.

Speaking to mediapersons in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh on 22 July, Ahmad defended triple talaq citing the Shariat.

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“Shariat says talaq should be given in three stages. Triple talaq has been kept as an option,” he responded when asked to comment on the issue which has pitted the government at the Centre against religious groups.

In a shocking statement, Ahmad, who served as a minister in Akhilesh Yadav’s government, said triple talaq enabled a man to give divorce to an unfaithful wife in the absence of which he would have no option but to kill her.

“If you find your wife in a compromising situation with another man, what will you do? You will either kill her or give triple talaq to get rid of her,” Ahmad is purported to have said in a video posted by Hindi news website Rajasthan Patrika.

He added that the law on triple talaq was stated in the Quran. He reportedly also said there were fewer divorce cases of Muslims in the courts than those of Hindus.

Ahmad, a five-time MLA from Pilibhit, also challenged the BJP to give 8 per cent reservation to Muslim women in the Women’s Reservation Bill if the saffron party was genuinely concerned about the plight of women from the minority community.

The SP leader’s comment came just a day after Nida Khan, a triple talaq victim, said a fatwa had been issued against her threatening bodily harm for opposing triple talaq.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, popularly known as the Triple Talaq Bill, was passed in the Lok Sabha but is yet to get the nod in the Upper House.

The BJP, which is backing the Bill, has been accusing the Congress and other Opposition parties of stalling it in Parliament.