Lucknow: An Uttar Pradesh woman has pronounced the instant triple talaq on her husband, ending her marriage of 14 years on the grounds of desertion and mistreatment.

Although the Supreme Court has banned instant triple talaq, the order pertains to husbands and the issue of women resorting to the practice was never raised during the hearing. Under the sharia (Islamic laws), a woman too can give the instant talaq.

Nigar Sultana, 35, a resident of Kunwarpur-Jasola in Bareilly district who had got married to Sahid Hasan Khan of Gadarpura in adjoining Badaun district on February 14, 2004, pronounced the instant triple talaq on Monday.

"I had secured the right to talaq-e-tafweez at the time of our nikah because I feared something wrong could happen to me," Nigar said.

Under the talaq-e-tafweez, the husband delegates his power to give talaq to a third party, including his wife.

"I exercised this right because he had been living with another woman for the past six years and mistreated me. I gave him triple talaq instantly and took away the mehr amount," Nigar said.

Mehr is a mandatory payment by the groom or his parents to the bride at the time of marriage.

"He never gave me the respect a wife deserved. He left me alone and got married again. He also ignored my request to give me triple talaq," added Nigar, the mother of a six-year-old daughter.

Nigar has sent a letter to Sahid about the instant talaq and also sent a copy to clerics in Bareilly to avoid controversy.

"I uttered the instant triple talaq in a normal state of mind and without any external pressure," she said.

Maulana Mohammad Shahbuddin, a local cleric, backed Nigar's decision.

"A woman has every right to talaq-e-tafweez. Nigar had secured the right from Sahid at the time of their marriage. Her act is completely justified," he said.

The cleric said it was a "pleasant surprise" that Nigar was alert from the time of her marriage and regretted that Sahid was dishonest in his married life.

"Such men are giving a bad name to Islam. He shouldn't have married Nigar if he wanted to marry some other woman. He does not have the right to destroy the life of an innocent woman just because he is a man," Shahbuddin said.

Muslim clergy members said that according to the standard practice, the right to marry (consent) rests with the bride and the right to divorce is entrusted with the husband as a Muslim marriage is a social contract.

If a wife seeks divorce, its called khula, but it has to be enforced by the local qazi or sharia court. But talaq-e-tafweez is exempted from these.

As per talaq-e-tafweez, if a marriage contract has a pre-nuptial clause where the husband delegates the authority to the wife to pronounce the talaq, the women gets the liberty to obtain divorce under certain specified conditions, such as the husband taking a second wife.

Additional reporting by Rasheed Kidwai