An Indian man was arrested for harassment and infidelity after he divorced his second wife via postcard, BBC reports.
Mohammed Haneef sent the divorce notice a week after his wedding. The word “talaq” — which means divorce — was written three times. According to the news site, that’s enough to legally complete a divorce for an Indian Muslim. The triple talaq practice, which allows Muslim men to divorce their wives in a split second, faces major opposition in the country.
Still, activists say that across Islamic countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, the triple talaq rule has been banished, but through Islamic rule, men are allowed to have up to four wives.
Haneef was reportedly married to his first wife, who gave him consent to wed another woman. However, his second wife complained to the Hyderabad police who then found the marriage invalid because she didn’t declare an earlier divorce.
The 38-year-old man posted bail, but will now face charges of rape. “Our investigation showed that the marriage procedure was not correct because he did not have the right papers,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, V Satyanarayana told BBC. “We are cancelling the bail given to Haneef first and we will arrest him for rape as per our legal advice.”
In efforts to abolish the practice, which causes women to provide for themselves and their families without any financial help from their ex-spouse, women’s rights groups continue to campaign against the method throughout India.