Boon To Muslim Women: Reformation and Beyond
New Delhi : The term "Uniform Civil Code" though found its mention way back during drafting of Constitution of India but the idea of "One Nation one Law" has been gaining value in the recent times. The idea of this ONE Nation One Law emerged during drafting of Constitution when it was hotly debated and discussed amongst the Constitution makers wherein many argued in favour of unified personal Laws in regard to marriage, Divorce, Adoption, Maintenance, Inheritance etc but the voices were subdued in the wake of disturbed circumstances of the country, recuperating from the wounds of partition and coming to terms with changed socio- religious setbacks felt most during those times.
To further add to this disparity was the decision of then Constitution makers to codify all Hindu customs , traditions and religious practices into legislative laws which off course liberated Hindus from the prevalent traditional menaces existing in then Hindu society as the same being for the larger good of Hindus but it would have been appreciated and Hindus as well as the socially oppressed section of Muslim Society including Muslim Women in large numbers would not have felt cheated and being dealt with casually by the then Demigods of Socio-political strata, if a Uniform Civil Code as suggested by then Law Makers would have been enacted irrespective of any religion instead of Muslims being given freehand to practice their customs under personal Sharia Law.
In this Act of non codification of Uniform Civil Code in India, the most affected, tormented and oppressed class was of Muslim Women devoid of all rights of a just , equal society. Though there are a plethora of Muslim women’s organisations fighting to seek justice from patriarchy through the Personal Law Board like in case of Triple Talaq but they certainly aren’t moving towards a nationalist agenda of codifying everything into a Uniform Law for protection of Rights of all women of nation irrespective of caste , creed and religion .
The Muslim women are the most discriminated against and do not have rights under personal law which are enjoyed by women of other religion including Maintenance of Muslim women after divorce, Marriage Laws, Polygamy , Triple Talaq, Halala, Inheritance rules as practiced under Sharia which make them the most deprived class in absence of Codified laws and absence of penal implications arising therefrom . The Right to Equality imparted by Constitution of India falls flat in case of Muslim women in absence of specific laws preserving their rights applicable to any other Woman of India.
Maintenance: All discredit goes to then governments in practically reversing the Supreme Court Judgement in Shah Bano case wherein Supreme Court ruled in favour of 60yr old woman asking for maintenance from husband who had divorced her u/s 125 Criminal Procedure Code like any other Indian Woman but the then government succumbing to pressure of personal vendetta of group of people using religion as a tool and in inducing and passing "Muslim Women(Protection of Rights under Divorce) Act, 1986 wherein the most controversial provision of the Act was that it gave a Muslim woman the right to maintenance for the period of iddat (about three months) after the divorce, and shifted the onus of maintaining her to her relatives or the Wakf Board.
Triple Talaq: This menace of Muslim Society has been banned in 57 Islamic nations the same being not just Anti-Women but also Anti-Islamic as reciting the word "talaq" thrice at one place in one go is not allowed even as per Quran Sharif i.e Talaq-e-Sunnat wherein a waiting period of 40 days has to be maintained between recitation of each "Talaq" but women are divorced and left helpless in no matter of time by reciting Talaq thrice verbally, on watsapp , on Email etc.
Halala: A procedure prescribed for re-marrying the divorced wife is the worst menace of all for Muslim women wherein divorced wife has to marry another man, consummate the marriage, divorce that man and then only she can remarry the previous husband and the question arises as regards legal validity of remarrying the divorced husband if the procedure of Halala is not followed.We can very well imagine the plight of a woman who has been divorced by her husband using triple talaq in a fit of anger
Inheritance: The Muslim personal law is either silent or sometimes seen quoting 1/3rd share to daughter in family in the joint family property but in absence of codified enforceable laws in regard to same, the women are mostly deprived of their right to inherit the ancestral property of their own family.
Polygamy: There are various versions as regards interpretation of specific verses of Quran and justification of polygamy but the rules mentioned in Quran and Hadidth are usually interpreted according to the conveniences of selected few, stronger section of patriarchal Muslim Society.
UCC will not snatch the personal beliefs of an Indian Muslim but for sure make those beliefs and customs unenforceable in a court of law if the same stands in contradiction to law of the land and basic provisions of Constitution of India. Though, it being true that a UCC has its own merits and demerits , but for Muslim Women, UCC will definitely be a boon bringing more gender equality to personal laws.
Disclaimer: The article has been written by Pragya Bhushan, Advocate , Supreme Court. All thoughts belong to her and News Heads has nothing to do with it.
