Muslim Personal Law Board today announced that it will boycott the Law Commission constituted by the Narendra Modi government to seek public opinion on the abolition of triple Talaq and implementation of Uniform Civil Code, saying there would be no compromise with the Sharia law.
"Uniform Civil Code is not good for this nation. There are so many cultures in this nation which have to be respected," Hazrat Maulana Wali Rahmani aa representative of the board said at the press briefing in the capital today.
"In America everyone follows their personal laws and identity, how come our nation doesn’t want to follow their steps in this matter," he added.
The Board also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of creating divide in the country to divert attention from his failures in two and half years of rule.
"PM Modi has been unable to stop infiltration but he is trying to divide the country from within,” a board member alleged.
Underlining that Muslim laws to be governed by board was decided by forefathers after independence, the board said, "We are living in this country with an agreement held by the Constitution. Constitution has made us live and practice our religion."
The Muslim Law Board has consistently said that triple talaq+ is a 'personal law' and hence cannot be modified by the Centre.
"We are living in this country with an agreement held by the constitution. The constitution has made us live and practice our religion. In America everyone follows their personal laws and identity, how come our nation doesn't want to follow their steps in this matter?" Rahmani said.
Amid a raging debate on the Uniform Civil Code, the law panel last week sought public views on the subject to revise and reform family laws, saying the aim is to address social injustice rather than do away with the plurality of laws.
The Centre had last week opposed the practice of triple talaq in the Supreme Court, maintaining that it cannot be regarded as an essential part of religion.
“Gender equality and dignity of women are non-negotiable,” the government had told the Apex Court in an affidavit in which it also held that “religious practices cannot be an impediment to rights and aspirations of individual woman irrespective of the religion she practices.”
In an appeal issued on Oct 7, the commission said the objective behind the endeavour is to address discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise various cultural practices even as it assured the people that the “norms of no one class, group or community will dominate the tone and tenor of family law reforms”.
In an accompanying questionnaire, the commission has asked whether the existing personal laws and customary practices need codification and whether it would benefit people.
Whether the practice of triple talaq be abolished, retained or retained with suitable amendments; and whether a uniform civil code should be optional are among 16 queries from the commission.
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