The lower house of Indian parliament Thursday passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill to prohibit practice of instant divorce - Triple Talaq, officials said.

The Lok Sabha approved the bill making the practice among Muslims a penal offence by voice vote after a five-hour debate even as lawmakers from opposition parties Congress and AIADMK staged a walkout from the house.

"The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill was passed in Lok Sabha this evening," an official said.

The bill was approved with 238 lawmakers voting in its favor and 12 opposing it.

Members from Congress, AIMIM, Trinamool Congress and NCP have demanded that the bill be sent to the Select Committee, claiming its provisions were unconstitutional and there was a need for a greater scrutiny of the draft law.

The bill makes instant divorce a criminal offence, with a jail term of up to three years and fine for erring husbands.

The opposition parties said the bill was not in the spirit of the Supreme Court judgment banning Triple Talaq. The apex court had last year declared the practice "unconstitutional."

The bill, which will now go to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament.

The bill will supersede an earlier draft passed in the Lok Sabha and pending in the Rajya Sabha.

As the bill continued to face resistance in the upper house, the government issued an ordinance in September, incorporating the amendments.