Personal laws can’t be interfered with: AIMPLB to SC

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) Personal laws of a communitycannot be "re-written" in the name of social reforms, AllIndia Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) today told theSupreme Court, while opposing pleas issues including allegedgender discrimination faced by Muslim women in divorce cases. The AIMPLB, in its counter affidavit filed in the apexcourt, said the contentious issue relating to Muslim practicesof polygamy, triple talaq (talaq-e-bidat) and nikah halala arematters of "legislative policy" and cannot be interfered with. The board said that practices provided by Muslim PersonalLaw on the issues of marriage, divorce and maintenance werebased on holy scripture Al-Quran and "courts cannot supplantits own interpretations over the text of scriptures". AIMPLB said the presumption that triple talaq wasarbitrary and unreasonable was a "fallacy of reason" and itwas a "misconception" that Muslim men enjoyed unilateralpowers in respect of divorce. Regarding polygamy, the board said that though Islampermitted it, but it does not encourage the same and referredto various reports, including World Development Report 1991,which had said that polygamy percentage in tribals, Buddhistsand Hindus were 15.25, 7.97 and 5.80 per cent respectively ascompared to 5.73 per cent in Muslims. The board further said that Islam always regarded divorceas a "condemnable practice" and the focus was also on the factthat both parties should maintain the marital bond as far aspossible. "It is clear that Muslim Personal Law adequately providesfor the rights of Muslim women and the basis of this petition,which assumes that a Muslim man has right to unilaterallypronounce irrevocable talaq or to not pay any maintenanceafter iddat period, are myths and thus the present petition isentirely misconceived and deserves to be dismissed," the boardsaid in its counter affidavit filed in the apex court. The apex court had also taken suo motu cognizance of thequestion whether Muslim women faced gender discrimination incases of divorce or due to other marriages of their husbandsand a bench headed by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur isexamining the issue. Subsequently, various other petitions including one bytriple talaq victim Shayara Bano were filed challenging theage-old practice of ‘triple talaq’ among the Muslim community. AIMPLB and Jamiat-e-Ulema had defended triple talaq andsaid it was part of Quran-dictated personal law which wasbeyond the ambit of judicial scrutiny. (More) PTI SJK ABA MNLRKSARC