India: Muslim women are fighting against polygamy
A court case was filed by a 28-year-old Muslim lady trying to prohibit her husband from having another wife without her written agreement.
The practice of fighting against polygamy among Muslim women has started to evolve lately.
Reshma, also wants the Delhi High Court to urge the government to pass legislation to restrict the “regressive practice” of polygamy.
According to court filings, she married Md Shoeb Khan in January 2019.
The pair welcomed a child in November of same year.
Reshma accuses her husband of dowry demands, cruelty, and domestic violence.
He has made similar accusations about her.
She also claims that he has abandoned her and their child.
He intends to marry another woman.
“This practice needs to be regulated to curb the condition of Muslim women,” she writes.
She describes his actions as “unconstitutional, anti-sharia, illegal, arbitrary, harsh, inhumane, and barbarous.”
The court ponders their strained relationship and the legality of polygamy.
The case has sparked a debate about the practice, which is prohibited in India among Muslims and some tribal groups.
According to a Pew Research Centre estimate from 2019, about 2% of the global population lives in polygamous households.
The practice is outlawed in many parts of the world, including Muslim-majority nations like Turkey and Tunisia.
However, the subject is a political hot potato in India.
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has promised to enact a Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
A contentious piece of legislation that will mean marriages, divorces, and inheritance will be governed by a common rule that will apply to all residents.
And, at a time when the country is deeply divided along religious lines, any government reform will almost certainly be viewed as an attack on Islam by the majority of Muslims.
“In India, the popular assumption is that every other Muslim has four wives,” says SY Qureshi.
In India, Muslim men are authorized to marry up to four women, and the Quran provides permission for polygamy, he claims.
But only under “tight rules and limits” that are nearly difficult to meet.
He added, “The Quran says that a man can take a second or a third or a fourth wife but only from among orphans and widows and that he must treat them all equally. Anything else is a violation. But loving equally is almost impossible in practice. It’s not just about buying them same clothes, it is much more than that.”
Courtesy : BOL News
Note: This news piece was originally published in bolnews.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights.