Rulers leaving their throne to live with beloved are part of the historical folklore. In the recent times only Chander Mohan the former Haryana deputy Chief Minister did the age-old act. For the sake of his extra legal love – Anuradha Bali, Mohan deserted his first wife Seema and children. More than a month he disappeared from his government duty and family responsibility. It seems that Chande Mohan and Anuradha converted into Islam. Thus they got a new identity – Chand Mohammad and Fiza. In the dargah town of Ajmer both of them got married according to the Islamic customs. Islam provides such liberty to divorce the first wife and get married ample number of times. This kind of act was staged by Dharmendra and Hemamalini and Kishore Kumar and Madhubala.
Generally the extra lovemaking Hindus uses the Islamic provision to legitimize their illegal affair. According to the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 bigamy is strictly prohibited for Hindus. When people started using Islam, Supreme Court stepped in and made it illegal. In the Sarla Mudgal vs Union of India it was made clear that any asylum in the Islamic provision is considered void. The apex court rejected the marriage and made it illegal. Under Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code if the second marriage is void which is not the case under Muslim personal law.
Article 44 was sought by the Supreme Court from the government for implementation that wants to make a uniform civil code. But Article 44 is non justiciable directive principle of Stae policy and it is datable whether the court can direct the government to implement it.
Sudhanshu Rajan writes in the Hindustan Times (5.2..2009, p.9), “Men take refuge in such loopholes, causing cruelty to their first wives – in this case both wives – only because India lacks a common civil code. We are a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1979. India is under a legal obligation to ensure gender equality but it has hardly taken any steps to comply. It accepted the prevalence of discrimination against women under various personal laws of different communities before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 2000. The committee noted India’s failure and had warned that “the government’s policy of non-interference perpetuates sexual stereotypes, son preference and discrimination against women.’
When the SC directed the government in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan to make a law to stop the sexual harassment of women at work places, it ruled that the provisions of the Constitution have to be interpreted as informed by CEDAW. The SC has been emphasizing the need for a uniform civil code since the 1985 Shah Bano case when it lamented that Article 44 has remained “a dead letter”. But in the Ahmedabad Women’s Action Group case, the court held that the removal of gender discrimination in personal laws fell in the domain of State policies in which the court could not interfere.
The first major step towards enforcing a uniform civil code was taken when the Hindu Code Bill was enacted, engendering the Hindu marriage Act of 1956, and Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act of 1956. These acts did away with the prevailing personal laws among Hindus, which permitted men to keep more than one wife, denied women the right to divorce and rights over their ancestral property. Making bigamy an illegal and bequeathing the right of divorce to wives was revolutionary, since a Hindu marriage was considered sacrament.
More than laws there should be social rules and customs which motivates individuals not to do injustice to their fellow beings. Gender discrimination is socially evolved and patronized by the male mindset. Any number of laws will not be deterrent to anti-women thinking. It should be ended at the earliest to give meaning to the techno civilization.
Generally the extra lovemaking Hindus uses the Islamic provision to legitimize their illegal affair. According to the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 bigamy is strictly prohibited for Hindus. When people started using Islam, Supreme Court stepped in and made it illegal. In the Sarla Mudgal vs Union of India it was made clear that any asylum in the Islamic provision is considered void. The apex court rejected the marriage and made it illegal. Under Section 494 of the Indian Penal Code if the second marriage is void which is not the case under Muslim personal law.
Article 44 was sought by the Supreme Court from the government for implementation that wants to make a uniform civil code. But Article 44 is non justiciable directive principle of Stae policy and it is datable whether the court can direct the government to implement it.
Sudhanshu Rajan writes in the Hindustan Times (5.2..2009, p.9), “Men take refuge in such loopholes, causing cruelty to their first wives – in this case both wives – only because India lacks a common civil code. We are a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1979. India is under a legal obligation to ensure gender equality but it has hardly taken any steps to comply. It accepted the prevalence of discrimination against women under various personal laws of different communities before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 2000. The committee noted India’s failure and had warned that “the government’s policy of non-interference perpetuates sexual stereotypes, son preference and discrimination against women.’
When the SC directed the government in Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan to make a law to stop the sexual harassment of women at work places, it ruled that the provisions of the Constitution have to be interpreted as informed by CEDAW. The SC has been emphasizing the need for a uniform civil code since the 1985 Shah Bano case when it lamented that Article 44 has remained “a dead letter”. But in the Ahmedabad Women’s Action Group case, the court held that the removal of gender discrimination in personal laws fell in the domain of State policies in which the court could not interfere.
The first major step towards enforcing a uniform civil code was taken when the Hindu Code Bill was enacted, engendering the Hindu marriage Act of 1956, and Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act of 1956. These acts did away with the prevailing personal laws among Hindus, which permitted men to keep more than one wife, denied women the right to divorce and rights over their ancestral property. Making bigamy an illegal and bequeathing the right of divorce to wives was revolutionary, since a Hindu marriage was considered sacrament.
More than laws there should be social rules and customs which motivates individuals not to do injustice to their fellow beings. Gender discrimination is socially evolved and patronized by the male mindset. Any number of laws will not be deterrent to anti-women thinking. It should be ended at the earliest to give meaning to the techno civilization.
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