New Delhi, May 23: Bader Sayeed, a former legislator and law officer from Tamil Nadu, has moved the Supreme Court seeking a ban on triple talaq that allows Muslim men to divorce their wives by repeating the word talaq thrice.

Besides challenging the constitutional validity of triple talaq, Sayeed has questioned the authority of qazis, the traditional clergy, for validating such divorce proceedings. She said such validation did not have sanction of Muslim personal law, popularly known as Shariat.

The petition follows other similar applications pending in the apex court. Two other women, Shayara Bano and Afreen Rehman, have filed separate petitions in the apex court seeking a relook at the triple talaq concept.

Apart from the individual petitions, the top court on its own had issued notices to the Union government for its response on the constitutional validity of triple talaq.

The Centre and the National Legal Services Authority, which have been asked to respond by the apex court, are yet to file their responses though the directives were issued by the top court more than two months ago.

Sayeed, who was an additional advocate-general with the Tamil Nadu government, said in her petition that the practice of triple talaq trampled upon the human and constitutional rights of Muslim women who fall victim to these practices.

She submitted that the arbitrary role of the qazis in Tamil Nadu in routinely issuing certificates to Muslim men validating the pronouncements of triple talaq caused prejudice and hardship to many women.

"It is submitted that such unilateral divorce and driving out women from their homes is a clear violation of Human Rights of Muslim women," the petition said.