NEW DELHI: Resisting
the Supreme Court's suo motu decision to test the legal validity of triple
talaq in Muslim personal law, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)
has said that the country's top court has no jurisdiction to undertake the
exercise as the community's personal law was based on the Quran and not on a
law enacted by Parliament.
The board
also challenged the utility of a uniform civil code which, it said, was no
guarantee of national integrity and solidarity, arguing that a shared faith did
not prevent Christian nations engaging in two World Wars.
In a similar vein,
the AIMPLB said the Hindu Code Bill had failed to eradicate caste
discrimination.
Drawing a
line between a law enacted by the legislature and social norms dictated by
religion, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board through advocate Ejaz Maqbool
told the Supreme Court, "Mohammedan law is founded on the Holy Quran and
Ahadith of the Prophet of Islam and this cannot fall within the purview of the
expression 'laws in force', as mentioned in Article 13 of the
Constitution." "The personal law of Muslims has not been passed or
made by a legislation," it said.
"Muslim personal law is a cultural issue, it is inextricably
interwoven with the religion of Islam. Thus, it is the issue of freedom of
conscience guaranteed under Articles 25 and 26 read with Article 29 of the
Constitution," it said in an affidavit filed in court, quoting a series of
SC judgments which apparently ruled that provisions of personal law could not
be challenged for violation of fundamental rights.
The SC had decided on its own
to examine the rights of Muslim women, finding that there was no safeguard
against arbitrary divorce by Muslim men. The 43-year-old organisation said
there were periodic noises by a section of society demanding an uniform civil
code. "If the SC lays down special rules for Muslim women it will amount
to judicial legislation," it said.
"Is uniform civil code
imperative to national unity, integrity and solidarity?" it asked and said
if that been so, there would not have been two world wars between armies
belonging to the same Christian religion.
Countering the idea of uniform civil code, AIMPLB said the Hindu Code
Bill, which was passed in 1956 to bring uniformity in personal law among
different sects of Hindus, has failed to achieve integration among different
sects of Hindus. "Are there not caste divisions which still exist and has
caste become extinct? Is untouchability non-existent? Are there no grievances
of Dalits about discriminatory treatment?," the board said.
No comments:
Post a Comment