A+| A| A-
Envisioning and Striving towards Gender Justice
The efforts of the secular women’s movement have ensured that the debates on family laws are no longer framed in terms of uniformity, but gender justice. Progressive and forward-looking laws addressing familial violence, a range of partnerships and living arrangements, property and inheritance, divorce and maintenance, guardianship and custody, and disenfranchisement within families, will serve as an impetus for social change.
The recent Supreme Court judgment setting aside the practice of triple talaq, or talaq-e-biddat uttered at one time, that affect women in Muslim communities, has once again brought the question of gender justice for all women in this country centre stage. The triple talaq case had several petitioners who challenged the validity of the practice, with several women’spetitions joining that of Shayara Bano who initially took her case to theSupreme Court in 2016. Alongside these petitions were those of several secular and feminist groups who challenged the constitutionality of the practice. There were also some women’s groups that said that it was an un-Quranic practice. All these petitions based on the claims of Muslim women’s right to equality were opposed by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a non-governmental organisation claiming to speak for the rights of the community.Ultimately, the Courtdelivered a majorityjudgment setting aside triple talaq uttered in one instant, with two judges out of five saying it is unconstitutional and one judge saying it is un-Islamic and therefore, illegal.
Beyond ‘Personal Laws’
Dear Reader,
Or
To gain instant access to this article (download).
(Readers in India)
(Readers outside India)
