I had no idea the current model for divorcing a woman followed the same lines as summoning Beetlejuice.
Muslim men in India will no longer be able to terminate their marriages in a matter of moments, after a split decision by the country's Supreme Court overruled the practice of "triple talaq."
Previously, Muslim men (and only men) could irrevocably end their marriages by repeating "talaq," the Arabic word for "divorce," three times. Women's rights advocates in India have fought to end the practice.
Now, three of five judges on the Supreme Court have ruled the practice violates the country's constitutional guarantees of equality.
India is majority Hindu but is home to the world's second-largest Muslim population, according to the Pew Research Center. It was an "outlier" among Muslim countries for permitting "triple talaq" until this year, NPR's Julie McCarthy reports — most countries had already reformed or banned the practice.
In India, The Associated Press reports, Muslim instant divorce was protected by "laws that allow Muslim, Christian and Hindu communities to follow religious law in matters like marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption."
"While most Hindu personal laws have been overhauled and codified over the years," the AP notes, "Muslim laws have been left to religious authorities and left largely untouched."