The Triple Talaq Argument: Fundamental Rights And Religious Obligations

The religious orthodoxy versus gender justice debate is not new. The debate has been ignited in the past from time to time challenging the sanctity of personal laws. The Muslim Personal Law Application Act, 1937, allows Indian Muslims to be governed by the Shariat (Islamic laws) based on Quran and Hadith (utterances of the Prophet) in matters of personal law.

It is the Shayara Bano case that once again has ignited the debate. Shayara is a resident of Kashipur in Uttarakhand who was given an instantaneous triple talaq by her husband. She then approached the Supreme Court and filed a petition against practices of talaq-e-bidat (instantaneous triple talaq), nikah halala and polygamy.

There are many progressive Muslim groups along with some secular bodies which demand to reform the unjust personal laws of the Muslim community. However, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) opposes any interference by the Supreme Court in matters of religious and cultural rights.

The right to equality is being denied to Muslim women merely by virtue of gender and religion. Shayara challenges talaq-e-bidat citing the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian constitution. Her petition invokes article 14, 15, 21, and 25 that deal with the right to equality before the law, protection against discrimination on grounds of sex or religion, protection of life and personal liberty, and freedom of religion respectively.

PM Modi, or his government, was actually very reluctant to intervene in the case earlier. In March this year, the Supreme Court asked the centre to publicize the Pam Rajput committee report in which it has sought a ban on gender discriminatory practices propagated by personal laws.

Nevertheless, personal laws are meant to preserve the plurality and diversity of the country, it cannot deny anyone their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Muslim personal law, undoubtedly, need to be reformed. But before attempting that, the government should consult the Muslims and take their opinion into consideration. While there should be no compromise on equality of any kind, some of their fruitful thoughts can be helpful. Also, that will be a democratic approach towards handling this issue.

The pursuit of reform has so far been (mis)guided by the electoral politics. The irresponsible opposition will rake up this issue in the polls and link it with "communal politics" of BJP. I used the term "irresponsible opposition" because today when they don't find anything of substance against the government, they indulge in cheap politics. The government need to move very carefully and cautiously.

Also Read : The Triple Talaq Bill: A Final Step To Settle Gender Justice Debate Among Muslims

Comments

The Great Indian Bank Fraud - A Look Into PNB SCAM

India’s second largest bank, PNB, has been duped with a massive amount of 11400 cr by a billionaire jewellery designer Nirav Modi, now a fugitive. Before being named and investigated in the mega- bank-fraud, the celebrity designer has been featured in Forbes India's Richest People List 2016. Not to mention, Mr Modi has been seen in the World Economic Forum summit at Davos with PM Modi himself. It explains his network. There must be multiple levels of corruption involved in Nirav Modi scam — from the highest management in the bank to bureaucracy, all must have colluded together to make this scam come true. Netas, too, are part of big businessman-banker nexus as they are the ones who fund the election campaign secretly. To reiterate, political parties fundings still do not come under the scanner of RTI. Indian Banking Exposed PNB, in a statement, said that fraudulent transactions took place in one of its branches in Mumbai with their apparent connivance. A single br...

Indian Rupee Demonetisation: Why It Cannot End Corruption Or Even Black Money

It was November 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a dramatic announcement, decided to scrap or demonetise two high-value Indian currency of the denomination of ₹500 and ₹1000. It means 85% of currency in circulation will no longer be a legal tender. All that precious notes have been converted into wastepaper overnight. It became the biggest talking point in every Indian household — from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Kutch to Arunachal Pradesh. After all, in a country where 98% of all transactions are conducted in cash, it was a big jolt. Demonetisation is usually associated with degrading economies and hyperinflation and often done by military dictatorships. It was surprising that a popular and democratically elected prime minister of a booming economy has resorted to demonetisation. Black money is the money held by people that have evaded taxation. It is illegal hoarding of unaccounted money which tends to exacerbate inequality because the biggest evas...

New Year Letter Without Fireworks

Dearest you , First of all, many thanks for being my support all these years… I don't know who I am to you, an honest blogger who expresses his view about the world, or a clown who provide free entertainment for his own fun. So far I’ve only tried to bring forth stories that I believed was worth your time and I'll continue this endeavour. I want you to bear some more of my musings in the form of blog/social media posts but with absolute freedom of your choice. I'm no comedian, but keeping the humour alive is one of the prime objectives of my writings. I can’t sacrifice humour to sound serious and intellectual. But unlike professional comedians, I won't guarantee if I’ll always make you laugh. Sometimes my jokes are really bad. I have no political affiliation, but sometimes I do take sides, not extreme though. The 2019 political battle will be exciting, especially after BJP’s recent defeat in the four major state assembly election. I’ve been quite inconsistent...

The Triple Talaq Bill: A Final Step To Settle Gender Justice Debate Among Muslims

Pixabay I’ve written a post earlier on the issue of triple talaq in June last year when the government opposed that in the Supreme Court. The SC held that talaq-e-biddat or instant triple talaq is unconstitutional, arbitrary and thus declared it void. Now, the legislation is being done with the continuation of the judicial declaration, with a triple talaq bill already been passed in the Lok Sabha and waiting to be passed in the Rajya Sabha. The bill shall provide a legal right to the Muslim women against this practice and make it a "criminal and non-bailable offence". But, some Islamic scholars and ‘secular’ politicians are questioning the authority of the Parliament. Isn’t it the Legislature that is formally authorised to initiate and bring reform in the society? Triple talaq is an unjust practice that has been carried out in independent India which is shameful. This practice has been even discontinued in many sharia abiding countries. The parliament has only ini...

Don't Just Set Fitness Goals, Achieve It With Smartness

The dream to be fit and have in possession of tip-top body shape is a dream of people across the globe. Some people will admit it, some won’t. Sometimes, to make this dream come true, we take action (as a reaction of some subversive motivational videos or text) and get ourselves enrolled in a gym or yoga class, eat healthy (and tasteless) food, forcefully digest bitter juice of bitter gourd, and whatnot. But it barely lasts for long-term. Within months, we tend to drop out. The “we” here is most of you and me. So, why does this happen to most people? Why do we fail to achieve our grand fitness dream? At the end of the day, even after a high dose of motivation, why do we choose to ignore the fitness goal we set in just some days ago? Probably because of the urge for laziness or the cravings for fatty and sugary food items. Or, because it is boring and feels like pain with no gain. But the fitness dream ain't big, rather it is just the default mode we are supposed to be in. What...

The Bihar B Ed Admission Crisis

This year in 2018, a first-ever centralized test was conducted by the Nalanda Open University (NOU), on behalf of the Bihar government for admission into 322 B.Ed colleges across the state. Prescribed by the previous governor of Bihar, Satyapal Malik, as it was publicized in the media, the combined entrance test (CET) was done in order to tame the B.Ed colleges which have been reduced to mere money-making business; some of them being run by powerful people in politics too. They charge more than the prescribed money for admission and yet, they churn out incompetent teachers. The Crisis After conducting the test and announcing result of the same, NOU held counselling of the CET candidates to allot appropriate colleges to them according to their marks. In the result, around 62000 candidates were declared as qualified, and 36440 among them were invited for the counselling held in Gyan Bhawan, Patna. The counselling was merely for document verification and submission. The c...

Modigate And The Modi Brand — How One Affects The Other

With few Modis coming out as corrupt doesn't imply that all people with Modi surname are corrupt. But, it certainly hurt the humble chaiwala PM MODI brand image in public. PM MODI DURING HIS 2014 ELECTION CAMPAIGN, in a public rally, asserted that he will serve as a chowkidar (watchman) of India and will stop the ongoing loot. The rhetoric was so powerful that even corruption crusaders like Anna Hazare fall for it and almost came out openly in support of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. But, he appears to have failed in his role as a chowkidar . With the fall of Nirav Modi brand after Modigate, the question is, is it going to affect the political ‘Modi’ brand? If yes, how? Nirav Modi’s association with PM Modi is not very clear. But the owner of Gitanjali gems and Nirav Modi's maternal uncle, Mehul Chinubhai Choksi has also been named in the PNB fraud . In a public speech, the way PM Narendra Modi mentioned his name indicates how well he know...

Social Mirror

Search This Blog