{"id":60507,"date":"2016-11-06T15:40:12","date_gmt":"2016-11-06T22:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=60507"},"modified":"2016-11-06T15:40:12","modified_gmt":"2016-11-06T22:40:12","slug":"polygamy-cannot-be-regarded-as-essential-part-of-islam-says-indian-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/11\/06\/polygamy-cannot-be-regarded-as-essential-part-of-islam-says-indian-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Polygamy cannot be regarded as essential part of Islam, says Indian government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy: \u00a0The Independent ( UK)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Monday 10 October 2016<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/islam-india-polyamory-multiple-wives-are-not-essential-government-says-a7353491.html<\/a><\/p>\n

The practices ‘need to be considerd in the light of principles of gender justice’ Indian government argues<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/islam-india-polyamory-multiple-wives-are-not-essential-government-says-a7353491.html<\/a><\/p>\n

The Indian government has petitioned the country’s Supreme Court for a ban on polygamy, the practice of of having more than one wife.<\/p>\n

It has also called the practice of\u00a0triple talaq<\/a>\u00a0“misplaced in a secular country”. It allows Muslim men to divorce their wives by repeating the word “talaq,” meaning “I divorce you,” three times.<\/p>\n

Currently, India’s constitution allows Muslims – the biggest minority religion in the country – to regulate their own laws governing matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance.<\/p>\n

However the government of Narendra Modi has filed an affidavit to the court arguing that polygamy and triple talaq impacts a woman’s status and her right to live with confidence and dignity,\u00a0The Indian Express<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is submitted that the issue of validity of triple talaq, \u2018nikah halala\u2019 and polygamy needs to be considered in the light of principles of gender justice and the overriding principle of non-discrimination, dignity and equality,\u201d the affidavit filed by the government says.<\/p>\n

The fundamental question for determination by this court is whether, in a secular democracy, religion can be a reason to deny equal status and dignity available to women under the Constitution of India.”<\/p>\n

It also said the practices are not protected under Article 25 of the constitution, which guarantees immunity to practices essential or integral religion.<\/p>\n

Even theocratic states have undergone reform in this area of law and, therefore, in a secular republic like India, there is no reason to deny the rights available under the Constitution,” the affidavit adds.<\/p>\n

“The fact that Muslim countries where Islam is the State Religion have undergone extensive reforms goes to establish that the practices in question cannot be regarded as integral to practices of Islam.”<\/p>\n

The practice of talaq has been banned in more than 20 countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Muslim women in India\u00a0petitioned the Supreme Court to ban triple talaq<\/a>, arguing it is unconstitutional, discriminatory and contrary to Islamic law.<\/p>\n

Case studies carried out across India by Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Aandolan, an organisation fighting for the rights of Muslim women in the country, found some men had exercised the practice via relatives, over the phone or even by email or text message.<\/p>\n

Courtesy: \u00a0The Independent ( UK)<\/strong><\/p>\n

………………………………………………..<\/strong><\/p>\n

Muslim Women’s group calls for Sharia courts to be banned in India to stop inequality and human rights violations<\/h1>\n

India’s Supreme Court is currently deciding a case on ‘triple talaq’ instant divorces<\/p>\n

8 September 2016<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/womens-group-calls-for-sharia-courts-to-be-banned-in-india-to-stop-inequality-and-human-rights-a7231441.html<\/a><\/p>\n

A women\u2019s group is calling for Sharia courts to be banned in\u00a0India<\/a>to stop inequality and violations of human rights.<\/p>\n

The Muslim Women\u2019s Quest for Equality (MWQE) has filed an affidavit arguing the\u00a0courts<\/a>, which govern marriage, divorce and family cases for India\u2019s 150 million Muslims, should not be allowed to function as a parallel judiciary.<\/p>\n

Its case said organisations including the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) should be abolished to save the country and Indian Muslims from the clamp of fundamentalists\/activists,\u201d the\u00a0Hindustan Times\u00a0<\/a><\/em>reported.<\/p>\n

The MWQE argued that freedoms under India\u2019s secular constitution were being abused to leave the courts entirely free from government control\u201d.<\/p>\n

Opponents to sharia have said the Islamic system is contrary to justice<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s Supreme Court rejected a previous petition seeking to ban Sharia courts two years ago, but stressed that they had no legal powers over Muslims and their decisions could not be enforced.<\/p>\n

Its ruling said Islamic judges, who interpret religious law, could only rule when individuals submitted voluntarily to them and their decisions, or fatwas, were not legally binding.<\/p>\n

Vishwa Lochan Madan launched the 2014 petition after a Sharia court ordered a woman to leave her husband and children to live with her father-in-law, who had raped her.<\/p>\n

The latest push came as the\u00a0Supreme Court considers another case on the practice of triple talaq\u201d instant\u00a0<\/a>divorces and polygamy.<\/p>\n

Muslim men can divorce their wives by repeating the word talaq\u201d three times, meaning I divorce you\u201d, in a practice banned in more than 20 countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

The Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (India Muslim Women’s Movement) said it knew of cases where arbitrary divorces\u201d declared over postcards or telegrams had been upheld by Sharia courts.<\/p>\n

AIMPLB’s argument that a Muslim man can delegate his power of pronouncing talaq to his wife is laughable – this can hardly be expected to happen in real life if the wife wants a divorce but husband doesn’t,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The truth is Muslim personal laws – like other religious laws – flow from patriarchy and relegate women to second class status.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AIMPLB, a non-governmental body that oversees the application of Muslim personal law, opposes any ban on triple talaq<\/a>\u201d and polygamy.<\/p>\n

In evidence to Indian Supreme Court, it argued that men have greater reasoning power compared to women, and that a man using triple talaq\u201d was a better option than murdering her or burning her alive, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

Sharia grants the right to divorce because men have greater power of decision making,\u201d the group said. They are more likely to control emotions and not take a hasty decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AIMPLB also argued that polygamy was a “social need”\u00a0and a “blessing”\u00a0as a lawful second wife was better than a mistress and added that it gave divorced or widowed women more opportunity to remarry.<\/p>\n

Indian law allows most religions to regulate matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance through their own civil code but there has been repeated debate over whether the arbitrary\u201d laws violate the constitution.<\/p>\n

The government is expected to file its own response to petitions against triple talaq\u201d to the Supreme Court next month.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/womens-group-calls-for-sharia-courts-to-be-banned-in-india-to-stop-inequality-and-human-rights-a7231441.html<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtesy: The Independent (UK)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy: \u00a0The Independent ( UK) Monday 10 October 2016 http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/islam-india-polyamory-multiple-wives-are-not-essential-government-says-a7353491.html The practices ‘need to be considerd in the light of principles of gender justice’ Indian government argues http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/asia\/islam-india-polyamory-multiple-wives-are-not-essential-government-says-a7353491.html The Indian government has petitioned the country’s Supreme Court for a ban on polygamy, the practice of of having more than one wife. It has also called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}