Eating The Cake And Having It Too: Triple Talaq Warriors Want Gender Justice Within Muslim Personal Law

The National Federation for Indian Women (NFIW), which is fighting on behalf of Muslim women victims of triple talaq, is tying itself up in knots over this issue and the related one of the uniform civil code (UCC).

Given the political reality that the move for a UCC is being projected as a Hindu-Muslim issue, with the “Hindu” Bharatiya Janata Party demanding it, and “secular” parties muttering darkly against it to retain the Muslim vote, the federation has rightly said that “all women are discriminated against by personal laws of all religions. Gender equality and gender justice is not a religious issue; it is a socio-political and legal issue of the country as a whole. Ensuring these as enshrined in the constitution is the responsibility of the state and people irrespective of religion and caste.”

So far, so good. But then, the federation’s general secretary, Annie Raja, goes on to say that “triple talaq in one sitting should be abolished” and also that “it is not prescribed in the Koran”. The simple point is this: if gender is a religion-neutral constitutional issue, why is a reference to the “Koran” required here? What if the Quran had decreed otherwise? Would triple talaq then be kosher?

While the NFIW seems keen to banish triple talaq in one sitting, it seems to have no problem with it if it is done with gaps of one month and 10 days between each utterance of talaq. It wants the same rights for women, called “khula”. Once again, the stated preference for a constitutional approach to gender rights seems circumscribed by the need to make Muslim personal laws more balanced. Where does the constitution come in if the attempt is to fix Muslim personal laws?

What the NFIW seems to want is both gender equality and Muslim personal law. Far from abolishing triple talaq, it seems to want to expand its scope to women too. It wants constitutional protection for a more balanced Muslim personal law.

If this were not the case, then it should truly welcome a UCC, which is not about imposing a Hindu law on Muslims or vice-versa. It is about a law that covers every Indian in a non-discriminatory way without reference to their religious persuasion.

Here again the NFIW seems to think that the UCC questionnaire put into the public domain by the Law Commission focuses only on Muslims and their personal laws. “Why is the issue of the UCC being linked only with the Muslim personal law? What is the scientific basis for such a questionnaire and the home work they have done before preparing it? This is nothing but an RSS-BJP design to push forward their Hindutva agenda.”

Quite clearly the NFIW’s agenda is not just gender justice but to somehow create a false equivalence between gender discrimination in various religions. Even a cursory look at the Law Commission’s questionnaire shows that the UCC is not just about Muslims, but everybody.

The questionnaire (read it in full here) asks people to give suggestions on the need for a common civil code, and also whether personal laws should be retained as they are, or with modifications. It talks about Hindu women’s right to inherit property, and about divorce timelines for Christian couples (currently two years in the Catholic church).

There is no exclusive focus on Muslim person law, except on the question of triple talaq.

The NFIW needs to be clear whether it is fighting for gender rights in a constitutional sense or for gender rights within the context of existing personal laws.