Lately, the social engineering joint project of national
government and its parent institution RSS is in full swing in India; so much so,
even the Supreme Court and Law commission appear their surrogates. ‘Uniform
Civil Code’ issue mentioned in Article 44 is one of the many directive
principles that needs to be contextualized in a holistic perspective. The government
of India’s Oct-2016 affidavit to Supreme Court against polygamy and Triple Talaq (TT) system is myopic and an opportunity lost. The codification of
personal laws is not exclusive to Muslim community and there are many complex
areas to be covered. Take the issue of the ‘Hindu
Joint Family’ itself which is exclusive to Hindus and it has huge financial
and fiscal ramifications. Further the gender superiority inherent in Indian
patriarchy is only different in its format but not in its ferocity amongst
different religious communities. The practitioners of TT are akin to the ‘khap
panchayats’, which are force to recon with in parts of northern India; in
spite of no legal sanction the traditional system perpetuated is forcefully
maintained.
There are two types of divorces in Islam – ‘Khula’ initiated by wife and ‘Talaq’ initiated by husband. Triple talaq is a variation of talaq. Husband initiating talaq must pay mahar (bride-price) which is a mandatory payment paid or promised
to pay by the groom at the time of Nikah.
The authors consulted five Qazis authorised to effect ‘Khula’
and ‘Talaq’ in the city of Hyderabad.
Their documentation ranged from seven to 25 years and a total of 460 occurrences
were noted. Of these 275 were ‘Khulas’,
162 Talaqs and only 23 classified as
‘triple talaqs’. This Khula system empowers a Muslim woman to
dissolve marriage on her volition.
Further, triple talaq are rare;
and the unfortunate cases where they have occurred, the community by and large
has strongly stood by the side of the victim. It must be noted that Supreme
Court of India has already held triple
talaq invalid in its Shamim Ara - v - State of UP judgment of 2002; and
divorced Muslim women can also benefit from legal provisions of the Muslim
Women’s Act and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
It is appropriate to share the Census of India - 2011 ‘Marital
Status by Religious Community and Sex’ (Table C-3) data which highlights the status
of women from marital perspective. Compared to many Western and African
nations, women ‘staying in marriage’ is high in India amongst all communities.
For example, 88 % Muslim, 86 % Hindu, 84% Christian and 86% women from all
other minorities remained currently-married after getting married. Women in
marriage do get the benefit of social and economic protection and lately many
women in marriage also take up paid employment and choose professional lives.
Yet a good proportion and numerically large number of woman
in India are found to be ‘widowed’, ‘divorced’, and ‘separated’. Of all the
ever-married women, 13.8 % Hindus, 12.3% Muslims, 16.3% Christians and 14.3%
the other minorities women fall in this category. The status of widowed,
divorced and separated women is deplorable across India. Each of this state-of-marriage
is mired with gender offensive situations that deny equality with married women
and men across all religions.
‘Widowed’ are least amongst Muslims (11.1%) compared to
Hindus (12.9%), Christians (14.6%) and other religious Minorities (13.3%). ‘Separated
and abandoned’ women are also least amongst the Muslims (0.67%) compared to
Hindus (0.69%), Christians (1.19%) and other religious Minorities (0.68%). Whereas
‘divorced’ women percentage is high amongst the Muslims 0.49% and Christians
0.47% compared to other religious minorities 0.33% and the Hindus 0.22%. Out of
340 million ever-married women 9.1 lakhs are divorced and amongst them 2.1
lakhs are Muslims. Note that Muslim women are better placed in seeking Khula compared to all other sisters
which appear to be a factor for higher incidence.
It appears that the government, selected political parties
and media are sensationalizing the matter of triple talaq as if this practice is widespread. The social stigma
and economic distressed faced by 43 million widowed women must be the priority
welfare policy in India. Creating institutional incentives for remarriage and
charting programmatic financial support must be the priority. There are one million
divorced women who require government initiated support. There are also 2.3 million separated and
abandoned women, of which two million are Hindu, 2.8 lakhs Muslims, 0.9 lakhs
Christians and 0.8 lakhs belong to other religions.
Lives of all separated women are pathetic; irrespective of
whether she is wife of Raja Bhauj
(say Prime Minister of India) or Gangu Teli
(a poverty stricken pauper). They face challenges and constraints both in
marital and natal families. The marital home does not support them as their son
has abandoned her and natal home ignore her as she is traditionally considered parayadhan (belong to someone else).
They cannot remarry due to the fact they are not divorced. They live in
extremely dire conditions socially and financially; and at risk of sexual
exploitation. They are desperate to live with their husbands and waiting for
one call from him to re-join. Despite not living with husband for 43 years
Jashodaben Modi said on 24th Nov 2014 "if he call once, I will go with
him". But her husband never responded. Recent photo-evidence of Joshodaben
suggest that she lives a solitary life in a depleted abode although legally she
is the first lady of India. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFj0G2GgG0).
Abandoned women cannot even get a passport in India; for
example, in 2015, when Jashodaben applied for passport, her application was
rejected. Anyone trying to reform the conditions of the Muslim women in the
guise of triple talaq should know the
depth of sufferings of 2.3 million deserted women, among which 1.9 million are
Hindu sisters. It's time for Mr. Modi to focus on facts and move away from
rhetoric to action; and stop targeting the minorities especially the Muslims.
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