I/II. http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/supreme-court-verdicts-for-muslim-women-and-against-misogyny/
July 16, 2014, 12:04 AM IST The Times of India <http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/author/ideastoi/> in TOI Edit Page <http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/> *|* Edit Page <http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/edit-page/>, India <http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/>, Interviews <http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/interviews/> 'Supreme Court's verdict for Muslim women -- and against misogyny' *The Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), a Muslim women's advocacy group, has released a draft document for the codification of Muslim Personal Law. Called the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, this law, if enacted, will abolish polygamy, unilateral and orally-rendered divorces and make registration of marriages mandatory. Noorjehan Safia Niaz, founder-member of BMMA, spoke with Mohammed Wajihuddin <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toireporter/author-Mohammed-Wajihuddin.cms> about the need for codification, how her group withstood traditionalists -- and the Supreme Court's ruling rejecting fatwas and parallel judiciaries:* *How is your draft for codification of Muslim family laws different?* Three Acts form sharia law in India -- the Shariat Application Act of 1937, Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act of 1939 and Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act of 1986. All these Acts discriminate against women. These laws merely say that Muslims will be governed by sharia and various grounds on which a Muslim woman can seek divorce. It doesn't say how a man should seek divorce. Men misinterpret and think they don't need to follow a procedure, they just utter talaq or divorce orally on telephones, through text messages and on email. Our law abolishes such divorce. We want compulsory registration of marriages and, unlike the existing law, our draft also says the bride and groom should be at least 18 and 21 years respectively, and neither should have a living spouse, thus banning polygamy. *This is bound to be controversial -- how prepared are you to face challenges from a powerful male-dominated All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)?*Well, during our discussions too, many male participants protested against our suggestion for a complete ban on polygamy. But women activists across India complained that the polygamy option to Muslim men is a licence to harass wives. It's used as a Damocles' sword -- it must be done away with. The Quranic injunction is that monogamy is ideal as it's virtually impossible for a man to do justice to all his wives in a polygamous marriage. We know the conservative clerics who call the shots in AIMPLB will not approve of our demand of codification of Muslim laws the way we want. However, we're sending copies to the law ministry, the National Human Rights Commission and various other stakeholders. We want the nation to debate this. *How do you view the Supreme Court's verdict saying sharia courts can't function as parallel judiciary and fatwas have no legal sanction?*We welcome this judgment -- the court has rightly censured sharia courts for often trampling on the rights of individuals. The judgment will go a long way to enable poor Muslim women to get speedy justice. It will also discourage many misogynistic Muftis from issuing diktats arbitrarily. Sharia courts must give orders which are in conjunction with the principles of justice and fairness. The Supreme Court's verdict does give us hope that the Muslim Personal Law will be codified soon in our country -- then, an Imrana-like situation will not occur. How unfair it was for Imrana whose marriage to her husband was declared invalid by a sharia court because she was allegedly raped by her father-in-law -- such a travesty of justice must stop. This piece appeared as an editorial in the print edition of The Times of India. II. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Suggestions-to-codify-Muslim-Personal-laws/articleshow/36684054.cms Suggestions to codify Muslim Personal laws Mohammed Wajihuddin <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toireporter/author-Mohammed-Wajihuddin.cms>, TNN | Jun 17, 2014, 04.43AM IST MUMBAI: After months of brainstorming sessions and consultations, the Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), a women's advocacy group, has drafted a set of recommendations , which if accepted by the government, can "revolutionize" the to codify Muslim Personal laws. These laws mainly concern on marriage, divorce, maintenance and children's custody. The draft, they said, will help end "arbitrariness and alleged patriarchal practices". To be released on Wednesday, the draft is expected to annoy the orthodox <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Orthodox-(musician)> elements in the community and may not find favour with the powerful All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB). "This may be called the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act and only the Centre can enforce it through notification in the official gazette. It will debar unilateral triple talaq, discourage polygamy and establish women <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Women> as natural guardian of kids. Marriage, maintenance and divorce will take place on principles laid do8wn by the Quran," said Noorjahan Safia Niaz, BMMA founder. Senior advocate and head of legal cell of AIMPLB Yusuf Muchchalla said the draft is ill-timed. "Security, arrest of youth on false terror charges, unemployment <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Unemployment> and lack of education are the issues that Muslims must focus on. Codification will create more problems as there are several schools of thought in Islam and one kind of family law can't be applicable to all." Mohammed Wajihuddin Niaz added that a practice like halala, where a divorced woman is made to do a consummated nikah with another man in order to go back to her former husband will be invalid and all marriages will be mandatorily registered under the Marriage Registration Act. Another significant feature of the code is that the marriage will be invalid if the bride and groom are not 18 and 21 years old respectively. Under the Shariah law, both bride and groom are considered fit to marry if they become baaligh (attain puberty) which in many cases is lower than the prescribed age for marriage by the law. Aware that this may be rejected by the AIMPLB, Niaz hoped it would at least initiate a debate. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
