Dec. 15 (UPI) -- India's Union Cabinet of Ministers approved a bill that proposes to make the "triple talaq" a criminal offense, sending it to get parliament clearance during the government's winter session that began Friday.
The Supreme Court paved the way for the proposed bill after it ruled in August that it was unconstitutional to allow men invoke triple talaq -- the practice of repeating the word "talaq," or "divorce," three times to annul one's marriage. The new law would make it a non-bailable crime that would carry a three-year jail term. The law would allow victims of instant divorce the ability to seek the custody of her minor children and receive maintenance from her husband after filing a complaint to police.