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ShareNEW DELHI: Najma Bibi, 28, was shocked when her husband in an inebriated condition stated the word talak thrice to her. Her husband went off to sleep after that only to realise his mistake when he woke up the next morning. But by then the damage was done. The panchayat members of her village in Orissa refused to let Najma stay with her husband until she performed halala (marrying another man and taking talak from him) in order to return to her previous husband. She refused. Najma approached supreme court and got a favourable order saying that her marriage was still valid. Five years on, Najma is now living happily with her husband and villagers have been told by local administration that harassing the couple would mean contempt of court.
Razia Kahtun's husband uttered talak to her over phone. There were no discussions, no meetings and no arguments. Just her husband's decision to walk out of the marriage.
The members of the community and the religious heads sided by him. Razia had no choice but to accept it. However, Razia defied Muslim laws. She no longer wears a burqa and moves around in her village in Uttar Pradesh freely. "Burqa confines a woman," says Razia.
Records show Muslim women across the country are now openly protesting some of the provisions in the Muslim Personal Law tilted against them. It was more obvious at the national convention organised by the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), over a thousand Muslim women gathered from across the country to voice their unhappiness over the concept of triple talak and halala. To them, unilateral talak is unacceptable. They want to change the system where the power to dissolve the marriage also remains with them.
With hardly any hope from the members and leaders of their own community, a large number of Muslim women are taking legal recourse to get justice. They are increasingly approaching courts to settle the issue rather than allowing maulvis and religious leaders to nose around.
Najma said courts, NGOs and local administration are all out to support a Muslim woman if she has the guts to fight her community people. "I got support from all but my villagers and community members. I am now encouraging women from my community to take the matter to court if they are denied of her rights," Najma added.
"Being a Muslim in India is a life full of discrimination and problems. And being a woman is an added problem," said CPM politburo member and women's rights activist Brinda Karat. "We do not accept an approach that puts the responsibility of the upliftment of Muslim women in society solely on the Muslim community. Our struggle is to ensure that the Indian government bears its due responsibility and takes concrete steps for their advancement," Karat said.
The demands include preparing a sub-plan for socio-economic, educational, health and other development of the Muslim community, besides allocating 15% of the annual budget under various ministries for the targeted development of the Muslim community, especially in wardsbocksdistricts with large Muslim populations.
