Recommendations
Our study has revealed that Muslim women suffer from two-dimensional disabilities, one as women, like any other woman in Indian male dominated society and two as members of the Muslim community that places them at a disadvantage in the social ladder of society: The second disability stems from the biased interpretation of the Muslim Personal Law by the conservative sections of their community ... The National Commission for Women would like to address, the Civil Society at large and the enlightened sections of the Muslims, in particular, to rid itself of the outdated and antiquated practices which are nothing more than distortions of their traditional law. In consideration of this need NCW addresses some of its concerns for the consideration of the Muslim intellectuals, lawyers and theologians.
1. ... The entire gamut of traditional laws governing the family life of the Muslims be codified into an intelligible compendium understood by the wider section of the Muslim society. For this purpose a Committee of Muslim intellectuals, Muslim lawyers and Muslim theologians, all categories to include women, may be formed who should work out a most acceptable and forward looking code that should govern the family matters of the Muslims ...
2...Second marriage while the first wife is living should be made as difficult as possible. The permission of the first wife for the second marriage, as Is the practice in other Muslim countries, should be made mandatory.
3. NCW has long been an advocate of compulsory registration of marriages ... Muslim marriages already have some sort of registration/obligation, since the Nikahnama is a proof . of marriage ... Making (registration) mandatory .... would make it difficult for a Muslim to marry a second time while his first wife was living ...
4... The NCW would like to see (instantaneous verbal triple talaq banned forever ... It is for the Muslim theologians, intellectuals and scholars to find a way within the ambit of Shariat ...
5. ... The provision for maintenance in the 1986 Act beyond the period of Iddat is vague and imperfect which leads to the destitution of the woman ... How a woman belonging to a particular religion could be deprived of her fundamental rights under the constitution i.e. to be treated equally with non-Muslim women of other communities notwithstanding the fact the Constitution recognises the rights of the minorities to follow their religious practices? ... It is, therefore, necessary that Civil Society and the democratic government accepts the principle that any practice or custom of any section of our society which impinges upon any of the democratic principles or the sacrosanct fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India would have to fall in line ...
Depending on what happens in the Apex court on the judgement of the Bombay High Court, the State should not sit idle if for some reason the Supreme Court is unable to uphold the Maharashtra Judgement.
6... The law (should be amended to) enable the woman to file suit for maintenance or relief of any other kind, at a place of her choosing
7... NCW endorses the request already made to the Muslim. Personal Law Board that a standard Nikahnama, such as the one drafted by women activists, be approved and adopted and that it should be made mandatory ..
8... The Registrar General of Census (should)make available disaggregated data for Muslim girl child from 0-10 age group for the 2001 Census ...
A.P. High Court on Children as Legal Disability for Panchayat Election
B.K. Parthsarathi and etc.,.Petitioners v. Government of Andhra Pradesh and others, Respondents.
Dr. MOTILAL B. NAIK AND J. CHELAMESWAR, JJ.
Section 19(3) does not directly curtail or directly interfere with the right of any citizen to take a decision in the matter of procreation. It only creates a legal disability on the part of any person who has procreated more than two children as on the relevant date of seeking an elected office under the Act ... Only disqualifies any person who is otherwise eligible to seek election to various public offices coming within the ambit of the Andhra Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 or declares such persons who have already been holding such offices to be disqualified from continuing in such offices if they procreate more than two children.
Choosing to contest an elected office is not a fundamental right but only a right arising out of a Statute. That being so, no grievances could be made out on the ground that the right to liberty and right to privacy of an individual are deprived by the impugned legislation ... (Source: AIR 2000 Andhra Pradesh 156)
N. Jamal Ansari On Reform in Muslim Personal Law
The practice of triple talaq and polygamy among Muslims are two issues that required to be addressed with utmost urgency. In fact they should be abolished once and for all ...
... The Muslim Personal Law, as practiced and applied in our country is ... originally an Anglo-Mohammedan law enacted by the British in the nineteenth century ... There is a need to pay attention to the amendments in the Muslim Personal Law ... (sic) ..
In June 1999, over 200 Muslim women from over 50 grassroot organisations met ... in Mumbai to demand radical changes in the Muslim Personal Law ...
The Charter of Reforms demanded that unilateral triple talaq be banned, all talaqs should be registered; maintenance be paid to divorced women beyond the iddat and ... mehr be paid immediately after divorce in a form that appreciates its value over time ...
Shahabuddin's Response Letter to The Pioneer, 1 May, 2000
Apropos Mr. N. Jamal Ansari's article "Change Begins from Within" (1 May, 2000), since the Muslim Personal Law is customary and not statutory law, it cannot be amended, it should be codified. This is not difficult What is difficult is to evolve a consensus among the Ulema on what is in accord with Shariat and what is not. Shariat is the code of conduct derived from the Holy Quran and the Traditions of the Holy Prophet and their interpretation by various Schools of Muslim Jurisprudence (Fiq'h) on any controversial point. The views of all the 4 principal Schools and the Family Codes of the Muslim countries which adhere to the Shariat can be kept in view while reaching a consensus on the most suitable course in the present circumstances.
In our urge for social reform, we cannot throw the Shariat out of the window but we may reinterpret it to find a 'solution to the social problems we face. The Muslim Code which is perceived by the people as being based on the Shariat will alone found social acceptance and thus be effective in meeting the social .evils. Otherwise it will become part of the legal debris on our social landscape.
In my personal view, and I do not claim to be an A'lim, the unilateral, irrevocable, irreversible Triple Talaq is violative of both the letter arid spirit of the Holy Quran.
Similarly, any recurring maintenance of the ex-wife by her ex-husband goes against the Islamic view of marriage as a civil contract. However, in addition to her legal claims, the divorcee may receive from the ex-husband a reasonable sum as a parting gift, whose minimum may be prescribed by law keeping in view the fact that the Muslim Indian society looks upon divorce as a stigma and the divorcee has little possibility of remarriage as in other Muslim societies. I also endorse the idea of registration of Nikah and standardization of Nikahnama which should provide for indexation of Mehr to inflation.
v MOHD. SHAMIM JAIRAJPURI selected Fellow of Third World Academy of Sciences.
v BASHIR BADR (Urdu) RASHID NAZKI (Kashmiri) and ABDUL RAHMAN (Tamil) awarded Sahitya Akademi Awards, 1999.
v MAULANA RABE HUSAINI elected Nazim, Nadwatul Ulema, Lucknow. 5 January, 2000.
v BASHIR AHMED KHAN appointed Judge of Delhi High Court. New Delhi, 11 January, 2000.
v A.R. KIDWAI elected . unopposed Member of Parliament for Rajya Sabha. 13 January, 2000.
v AKHTARUL WASEY appointed Member, Maulana Azad Education Foundation. New Delhi, 13 January, 2000.
v JUSTICE MOHD. SHAMIM & SHAMIM KAZIM appointed Chairman and Member respectively of the National Commission for Minorities. New Delhi, 15 January, 2000.
v SYED SHAHID MAHDI appointed Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi. 15 January, 2000.
v SHABANA AZMI awarded 46" National Film's Best Actress Award. New Delhi, 15 February, 2000.
v P. IBRAHIM KHALILULLAH appointed Judge, Madras High Court. New Delhi, 20 February, 2000.
v ALE AHMAD SUROOR and MOHAMMAD HASSAN awarded Bahadur Shah Award for 1998 and 1999 respectively. New Delhi, 17 February, 2000.
v A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM awarded Hari Om Ashram Prerit Senior Scientists Award, 1998. New Delhi, 3 March, 2000 and also awarded Deshikottam by Viswa Bharti Award.
v SIRAJ HUSAIN appointed Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi. 15 March, 2000.
v SHAMEEM JAIRAJPURI appointed President of Indian Society for . Hyderabad, 28 March, 2000.
v SIKANDER BAKHT awarded Padma Vibhushan,
v BEGUM QUDSIA AZIZ and WAHIDUDDIN KHAN awarded Padma Bhushan, ALLAH RAKKHA RAHMAN and ABDUR RAHMAN RAHI awarded Padma Shri, 2000. New Delhi, 30 March, 2000.
v MOHD. RABEY HUSANI NADWI elected President of Deeni Taleemi Council. Lucknow.
v EBRAHIM ALKAZI conferred special honour by Chaman Lal Memorial Scoiety. New Delhi, 5 April, 2000.
v MUJAHIDUL ISLAM QASMI elected President, All India Muslim Personal Law Board. Lucknow. 23 April, 2000
v MOHD. HASAN awarded A.I. Bahadur Shah Zafar Award by Urdu Academy, Delhi, 29 April, 2000.
v KAIFI AZMI conferred First Millennium Award by Delhi Government, 13 May, 2000
