The All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board on Tuesday said clerics should not “create hurdles” for the government when it is preparing to criminalise the practice of triple talaq, the Hindustan Times reported.
Shaista Amber, the president of the board, said she would travel across the country to expose the “real face” and anti-women attitude of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which on Sunday criticised the Centre for a bill that proposes to criminalise the Islamic practice of instant divorce.
Muslim clerics are calling Hindus who support the bill communal, but they should remember that injustice will not be tolerated for long, Amber was quoted as saying. She accused the personal law board of planning to block the bill before it is discussed in Parliament.
The bill is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, even as the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw it, according to the Hindustan Times.
“Clerics have misguided the community for long by their wrong interpretation of the Quran,” Amber said. “At a time when social media and the internet have bridged the divide among the people, it has also brought to light the real meaning of the verses of the Quran, which term women equal to men.”
She accused the board of always ensuring that women were not treated on par with men.
“Why don’t they consider Muslim women as equal partners?” she asked. “Why do they want to create a communal feeling among Muslims when the society is going for reforms? Why are they saying the bill would promote interference in religious matters? Why do they want to protect such men who use women and abandon them at their will?”
The triple talaq bill
On December 15, the Cabinet cleared the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill. Under the proposed law, if a man divorces his wife by saying “talaq” three times at one go, the woman can approach a magistrate and seek “subsistence allowance” for herself and her children if they are minors. Men who violate the law would also face three years in prison.
The bill is likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Winter Session.
However, on Sunday, Sajjad Nomani, a member of the executive committee of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, criticised the government for not consulting any stakeholder before drafting the bill.
Another member, Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, said the proposed legislation was anti-women, and that the board would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for a review.
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