Anti-triple talaq crusader Shayara Bano gets minister rank in Uttarakhand

Dehradun: Anti-triple talaq crusader Shayara Bano, who recently joined the BJP, has been given minister of state status by the Uttarakhand government. The move comes just ten days after Bano, who was the first Muslim woman to question the constitutionality of the practice of triple talaq in the Supreme Court, joined the BJP here in the presence of its Pradesh president Bansidhar Bhagat and a host of other leaders. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat's media coordinator Darshan Singh Rawat said ,Bano is among three women, who were appointed vice presidents of the State Women's Commission besides being accorded MoS status on Tuesday.

The other two women appointed to the post are Jyoti Shah from Ranikhet in Almora district and Pushpa Paswan from Chamoli district.

The three posts in the commission had long been vacant.

It is the chief minister's gift to the women of the state during Navratri, he said.

Bano was the first to challenge the constitutionality of the practice of triple talaq in the apex court in 2014, four months after being divorced by her husband through speed post. She is a resident of Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttarakhand.