I was threatened when I had first written against triple talaq: Abul Bashar

KOLKATA: When in a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court by 3:2 majority+ struck down triple talaq or

instant divorce practice as unconstitutional

, it prompted

author Abul Bashar

to call it a 'historic victory'. Happy with the verdict, the acclaimed writer said it will go a long way in empowering women.

“This has been part of my fight,” Bashar said. In 1980, Bashar had written his third story titled 'Chor'. It was on the issue of how motherhood was being destroyed because of triple talaq. Recounting those days when he had written the story, Bashar said, "I had received a number of threats for writing on this subject. Even authors wrote letters to me in private raising objections. People pelted stones at my house, poisoned water in my well. Today, I stand vindicated. It took 37 years since then to get this Supreme Court verdict."

However, he is practical about how things stand on ground reality now. “There is no reason to believe that such a verdict will be readily accepted even by the majority of the intellectual class. Some might argue that the Quran doesn’t support triple talaq. For them my question is why did we then have to wait for so long to term this as illegal? The ground situation might not change overnight and we might still see cases of instant talaq,” he said. However, he still sees reasons to be optimistic. “Women still should feel happy that they are now empowered to move court if they are victimised this way. This itself is a big victory,” he concluded.