THE Supreme Court's recent judgment in Abdul Samad has been in the news, I suspect partly because it again provides an opportunity to media commentators to speak about how Muslim women need to be saved from their personal laws.
The SC has held that there are equivalent rights to maintenance available under the 'secular provision' of Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973 (Section 125), and the 'personal law provision' enacted in Section 3 of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986. Although the two provisions exist in parallel and distinct domains, either is available to Muslim women. The existence of personal law rights to maintenance does not debar Muslim women from also invoking the same right under Section 125 CrPC.
On cue, the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) passed a resolution disapproving the judgment.
The facts of the case involve a Muslim husband who unilaterally divorced his wife and paid her Rs 15,000 towards maintenance for the period of Iddat alone. The Iddat period comprises three months following a divorce when a divorced wife may not remarry, and was instituted to remove any potential doubts about paternity, etc. The severance between the former spouses is complete after Iddat.
This story is from the August 01, 2024 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 01, 2024 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Criminal Amnesia
The focus may have now shifted to the Kolkata gang rape case, but questions about the sexual violence in Manipur since May 2023 remain unanswered
To Rape A Wife
Survivors of marital rape face twin hurdles: a lack of legal framework to deal with these cases and the social stigma that comes with reporting them
A City Violated
Public outburst of anger over the rape and murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata has left the Mamata Banerjee government puzzled, worried
The Forest of Loss
From a legal perspective, justice appears to have been served in the 2017 Gudiya rape and murder case at Kotkhai, Himachal Pradesh. But several questions persist
Here, Nobody Speaks of the Wounds
Muhammad Iqbal Shah's 14-year-old cousin was gang-raped and murdered at Handwara town, Kupwara, in 2007. The family is still trudging along the long road to justice
She Must Have Been Afraid
The 2012 Delhi gang rape is reflective of a systematic failure to cleanse the societal malaise
The Burning Woman
UP has the highest rate of crimes against women, and the district of Unnao has seen some of the State's most gruesome cases
Naked (vs.) Justice
On March 14, 2006, Latabai and her son, six, were paraded naked in a village in Solapur. Less than six months later, four members of a Dalit family were paraded naked; mother & daughter were allegedly gang-raped
Songlines of Chambal
How do the residents of Sheikhpur Gudha, Phoolan Devi's village in Uttar Pradesh, remember her: as a survivor, a rebel, a leader?
Don't You Remember My Story?
A child gang rape survivor's 12-year long ordeal in Sikar, Rajasthan shows how calls for punishment of perpetrators don't always mean empathy for the victim
