MUMBAI: Days after the
All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) held meet of women at Azad Maidan to protest the
talaq
bill, a group of activists and scholars slammed the board for "misleading the community and trying to present misogyny and patriarchy as Islamic laws".
At a news conference called by the Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) on Tuesday, the activists attacked the Board for "mishandling" the triple talaq issue. "It is the same Board which had filed an affidavit in the court saying that if triple talaq is banned Muslim men would murder their wives. The Board should first apologise to the Muslim women for misrepresenting them," said IMSD's co-convener Feroze Mithiborwala.
Islamic scholar Zeenat Shaukat Ali, differing with members of IMSD who are against the talaq bill, said that instant divorce is a crime and there should be a deterrent to it. "Instead of three years, the bill should make triple talaq punishable with one year's imprisonment," Ali said. "But more than that, the
Muslim Board
must introspect and see why it has has failed to live up to the trust the community. So many years have passed since the Shah Bano case in 1986. Why didn't it come out with laws which are not discriminatory and don't take the Sharia to medievalism," she asked.
Senior Urdu columnist
Hasan Kamal questioned the relevance of the personal law board. "The board has lost its utility. It should dissolve itself now," he said. Kamal added that, by holding huge rallies of women, the board might make the
Supreme Court prejudicial against Muslims. "The Supreme Court has declared triple talaq null and void. Now the impression is being created that the court is interfering in Islamic laws," he said. He added that the government should desist from framing a law against triple talaq and deal with the cases under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
Haseena Khan of Bebaak Collective slammed the board for "bringing women on the roads with slogans like Islam is in danger".
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