NRI uses WhatsApp to divorce wife of 4 weeks
ALAPPUZHA: Ten days after her marriage, the 21-year-old BDS student's groom left for Dubai.
After remaining incommunicado for over three weeks, he sent her a message — triple talaq — over WhatsApp.
The unexpected talaq shattered the woman and her family. Both she and her sister, a Plus Two student, have now dropped out of their classes.
Overcoming the initial shock, the young woman on Monday lodged a complaint at the state women's commission's adalat in Pala, Kottayam.
The commission has ordered the department of non-resident Keralites' affairs to find her husband, a 27-year-old from Vaikom in Kottayam district.
"He has conveyed that he does not wish to live with her," commission member J Prameela Devi said.
"He said she was like an apple and he had already tasted it. So he did not want her anymore."
The girl returned home from her in-laws' residence after they showed scant interest in the development.
"The girl's father had died around four years ago. Her mother conducted the marriage and gave a dowry of Rs 10 lakh in cash and 80 sovereigns of gold," the women's panel member said.
The commission, which doubted the validity of 'WhatsApp talaq', directed cops to present the man's parents during the next adalat.
The talaq over WhatsApp, meanwhile, has divided Islamic scholars.
Sayyed Attakoya Thangal, the Alappuzha district president of Samastha Kerala Jam-Iyyathul Ulama termed it valid. "The divorce, however, will be granted only after holding discussions with both the man and wife and their family members. If husband sticks to his stand, divorce will be sanctioned," he said on Tuesday.
Another leader of the same organization and the chairman of the state Haj committee, Kottumala T M Bappu Musaliyar, said the WhatsApp message was not a legal document. "Talaq should ideally be done face-to-face. If it is not possible, talaq can be done after presenting relevant documents signed by witnesses," he said.
Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen state president T P Abdulla Koya Madani termed talaq over WhatsApp "oversimplification of the entire process." He said, "Talaq should be done under unavoidable circumstances and conditions. Mandatory steps for talaq cannot be followed in WhatsApp."
Activist-poet and former chairperson of the state women's commission B Sugathakumari condemned the WhatsApp talaq, and sought strict action against the man. "I don't think a normal youth can act in this manner. The commission should provide protection and legal aid to the girl and her mother,'' she said.
NRI uses WhatsApp to divorce wife of 4 weeks - The Times of India