anant_gupta
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According to Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, a husband has the exclusive authority to punish the person with whom his wife committed adultery by having sexual relations with him. On the basis of adultery, the husband might also seek for divorce from his adulterous wife. A wife, on the other hand, does not have the same right to prosecute the woman with whom her husband has committed adultery. Second, the clause did not provide the woman the right to bring an adultery suit against her husband.
Islam dictates that a Muslim man has the liberty to divorce and remarry the same woman twice. However, if he decides to dissolve the marriage for the third time, he can only remarry the same woman if she first marries another man, consummates the marriage, and only if the man dies or willingly asks for divorce, can the woman go back to her first husband and remarry him.
Samina Begum who has fought case against triple talaq in Supreme Court which ultimately declared unconstitutional, has also said that nikah halala is akin to rape and polygamy, a humiliation for women. Like triple talaq, she believes these 2 must have no place in 21st century India, not least through religious sanction.
In modern India these type of religious laws like nikah halala has been misused and manipulated. In 2016, a Muslim women claimed that her husband’s friend raped her because he lost his wife to his friend in a gambling game therefore had to divorce her. Now in order to get back her he asked his friend to sleep with his wife so as a part of nikah halala her husband could take her back.Since the earliest times almost every law including property law has been exclusively for the benefit of men and woman has been considered as an asset of men. Property right is very important for the development of humans and the laws before the introduction of Hindu succession act 1956 were governed on the basis of customary rules and regulation which can differ region to region or on the caste basis. Things changed considerably after Hindu succession came in 1956.
First major change that happened was the uniformity of application. Previously there were many systems of inheritance governed by different law but after this act all part of India came under one umbrella. Second change was that there’s a section provided in this act where when a male Hindu dies his interest would devolve by survivorship upon the surviving members of the coparcenary, and not according to the rules of succession laid down in the Act. However, this rule has now been abrogated by the 2005 Amendment of the Act. Third change was that the Act abolishes the Hindu women’s restricted estate, and all property obtained by a female Hindu, regardless of how gained, is to be retained as her absolute property, and she is given complete right to deal with and dispose of it as she wishes. Finally, the Act clarifies the manner of succession, removing significant ambiguities that had been created by contradictory judgements of the Privy Council and several High Courts.According to law, the minimum age for marriage is 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys. This is laid down in two acts of parliament. First is Special Marriage Act of 1954 and second one is Prohibition of child marriages act 2006. However, the Muslim personal law states that children can marry if they attend the age of puberty which was presumed as above 15 years.
There are different interpretations even by the high courts itself. Punjab and Haryana high courts in 2011 case said that personal religious laws will prevail over prohibition of child Marriage Act and allowed the marriage of 17-year-old girl meanwhile Gujarat and Karnataka High Court said that PMA will prevail over the Muslim personal law. Although a court judgment of 2017 does say that PCMA is a secular law applicable to all, the Supreme Court has not given an authoritative verdict on the same.
Prohibition of child marriages act, 2006 states that no child below legal age can marry. This decision was taken after considering all the trauma women had to face after getting pregnant before 18 years. Child marriage is the reason why so many girls leave school and stay uneducated, further strengthening poverty in our country. Marriage earlier than 18 years can cause many health problems for the women and can even for the baby. Whereas reasoning given by Muslim personal laws is that Marriage protects a Muslim from severe crimes such as “Zinnah.” Because people have specific inclinations when they meet people of the other gender, Islam requires a Muslim to marry early if he is reluctant or unable to handle sexual needs adequately. Marriage is only a control mechanism for sexual cravings, ensuring that one does not become a subject of one’s desires.
