Assalaamu alaykum, Shaykh. I read that our beloved leader 'Umar, may Allaah be pleased with him, would punish people for having an innovated divorce? Is that information authentic?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The innovated (Bid‘i) divorce includes divorce while the woman is menstruating, divorce while she is in a state of ritual purity during which the husband had intercourse with her, and the triple divorce (three divorce pronouncements uttered in one session). We could not find any evidence indicating that ‘Umar used to punish for the first and second type. As to the third type, the triple divorce, it was reported on the authority of Anas that when a man who had given three divorces to his wife in one session was presented to ‘Umar  ‘Umar would give him a painful beating and separate them (him and his wife). [Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybbah]

For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 87007.

Allah knows best.