No 'triple talaq' in the Quran and women are being misguided, Indian vice president's wife Salma Ansari says

The Quran – the holy book of Muslims – does not have a mention of "triple talaq" and there is no such rule in Islam, Salma Ansari, wife of Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari, has said amid growing demands from women activists in the country to abolish the practice that allows men to divorce their wife by uttering "talaq" thrice.

"There is nothing like triple talaq in the Quran and women in India are being misguided over the issue," she said at a recent event and exhorted women to read the holy book themselves to know what it really says, instead of trusting the clerics.

The controversy surrounding "triple talaq" has divided the Muslim community in India, with many questioning its legality and others justifying it. Ansari insisted that people should read the holy scripture to clear their doubts and they should read the original instead of reading the translations.

"You read the Quran in Arabic and don't read the translation. You accept whatever the maulana (clerics) or the mulla says. You must read the Quran, read Hadis. Just see what Rasool had said," she told reporters following the event at a madrassa (Islamic religious school) in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.

"Triple talaq is not an issue. There can be no 'talaq' just because someone utters talaq, talaq, talaq. There is no such rule in Quran. They have just made it up," The Times of India quoted Ansari as saying.

Some recent cases of men divorcing their wives by uttering the words over the phone or writing it in a Whatsapp or Facebook chat has added fuel to the growing debate, which began after some women filed legal cases against the practices.

A top Indian court recently termed the practice of talaq system "cruel" and "most demeaning". The Allahabad High Court said the instant divorce system prevalent among some Indian Muslims is "unconstitutional".