PERSONAL LAW

Reform of Personal Laws, yes; Uniform Civil Code, No

With the uniform civil code having become one of the most contentious issues on the social agenda, many women's groups which started out by asking for a common code have rethought and revised their stand to press for a more gradual process of reforms within communities.    A consultation of different women's groups from around the country will be held in the city on March 2 and 3, 1996 to share ideas and work out a minimum agenda for change. This will be presented to different communities for discussion.

Views of Ammu Abraham, Convener, Joint Meeting Organized by the Women's Centre and the Insaaf Women's Commission, 2-3 March, 1996.

Women's groups have not been able to speak very coherently about family laws since 1985-86, ever since the Shahbano judgement. Before that we used to routinely suggest a uniform civil code as part of the feminist demands for crucial changes within the family structure. But after the Shahbano judgement, it struck many of us that we hadn't yet applied it to the real lives of ordinary women, who live in different communities, who come from different classes, who belong to different castes. So, some of us began to feel that perhaps something was missing from our starting poin. - and that something was the concrete experiences and situations of different groups of women to which we must connect our organizing principles.

Shahbano was (not) the first Muslim woman to have succeeded, despite "backward" Muslim personal law, in getting a court order passed ordering her husband to pay her maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code Section 125. is intended to prevent destitution of dependent family members. Under this section, thousands of poor Muslim women had received maintenance over the years without any protest.

Some of the remarks of the supreme court in the case were quite unprecedented and portrayed the Muslim community as a privileged one. The idea that the Muslims are a "privileged and pampered" community was picked up and promoted by the Hindutva parties, using the Shahbano case as an illustration. They managed to create a misplaced sense of injustice among Hindus to consolidate a vote bank.

In this way, the. terms of the debate about family laws were shifted; the issue was no longer women's rights but the privileges of Hindu males versus Muslim males. Communal politics and the 'demonization campaign against Muslims culminated in the demolition of the Babari Masjid in December '92 and the subsequent riots. Many Muslim women now perceive the uniform civil code as an integral part of the ideology that threatens the democratic rights of minority communities.

The majority of women in India do see their communities very much as a part of their identities. You can't get away from that. For example, during the Bombay riots, who was there to protect Muslim women? They suffered along with their community and whatever protection they had come from their community. However, Muslim women certainly see that there is a contradiction between them and the men of their community. That's something that they try to tackle and balance. Criminal acts of violence against women - such as sati, female infanticide, dowry deaths, harassment of wives in the home must be banned and condemned. Here the law can play a progressive role and force the pace of reform to some extent.

But when it comes to civil matters, which are seen by most people as being connected to their culture, you have to take women along with you. So we must first learn how women of different communities look at life at their children, at their own womanhood, and at gender relations. Without this understanding, those who work for social change cannot make much of a difference. Advocating internal reforms is not a passive position. It can work. Take the case of the Christian community. Through a process of consultation within the community in which both women's groups and church authorities were involved, a Christian Marriage Bill was prepared. it is lying in the PM's office awaiting presentation to Parliament.

Within the Muslim community too, there is now a process of questioning and dissent. In fact, there is also an emerging women's leadership - as a result, ironically. of the intimidation they regularly face in the wake of the riots and bomb blasts. This gives them a voice in the community and they are being heard to some extent.

Many of them are also studying their religion today. They see Islam as a liberating religion but feel those very aspects have been denied to them, especially in India. We have seen women who are learned in the Koran sharing their insights with other women and holding discussions.

Over the last one-and-a-half year, the Women's Centre, which supports women through counselling and legal aid, has seen in increasing number of Muslim women coming for help with marital disputes. What is more interesting is that wherever possible, they make it a community issue, involving the jamaat and bringing community elders to the Centre,

All women's groups agree on joint ownership of property, adequate maintenance, women's right to live in the marital home, protection from domestic violence, and equal rights for women in custody and guardianship matters. Participants are bringing their knowledge and experience of what women think about these issues. Based on that, we hope to formulate recommendations for different communities.

(Source: The Times of India, 29 February, 1996)