New Delhi: Terming the triple talaq Bill as one with several lacunae, Congress MP Sushmita Dev on Thursday said had there been more women in the Lok Sabha a “flawed” Bill like the one brought by the government can never be passed and asked why the government was not bringing the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament.

Initiating the debate on The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, Dev pointed out that the government was not legislating on the issue of marital rape citing that the law might be misused, and questioned if the law on Talaq-e-Biddat may not be misused.

“Women’s equality is not an idea but a right… The entire country is waiting for the Women’s Reservation Bill, not because we need reservation but had there been more women in the House, a Bill like this with so many lacunae would not be passed,” Dev said.

“You are not ready to criminalise marital rape… Would this Bill also not open possibilities for abuse of Muslim men,” she said.

Congress, while supporting the Bill, sought to send the Bill to a standing committee to weed out the shortcomings in the legislation, but the government did not agree.

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