A ban on polygamy was officially enacted in the Indian state of Uttarakhand on Wednesday. Despite strong resistance from some leaders among India’s 200 million Muslims—the third-largest Muslim population in the world—the code is set to be adopted, paving the way for other states governed by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to do the same.
“I can now say that my battle against age-old Islamic rules on marriage and divorce has been won,” said Bano, a Muslim woman whose husband opted to marry two wives and divorced her by saying “talaq” three times.
“Islam’s allowance for men to have two or more wives at the same time had to end,” she told Reuters
Despite Sadaf Jafar’s own legal battle against her husband for marrying another woman without her permission, she did not applaud the new legislation that outlaws behaviours like quick divorce and polygamy.
“Polygamy is permissible in Islam under strict rules and regulations but it is misused,” said Jafar, who is seeking alimony to support their two children. She claims she did not seek advice from Islamic experts because she had faith that the Indian legal system would provide fairness.
The implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand has created a divide among the women of India’s biggest religious minority, even among those whose lives were completely upended when their spouses were involved in multiple marriages.
The new regulations have been welcomed by some, such as 49-year-old activist Bano, who sees them as the long-overdue recognition of secular law as superseding the parallel sharia decisions on adoption, succession, divorce, marriage, and inheritance. Some, like Jafar, a candidate for office with the major opposition Congress party, see it as an unwanted ploy by the Hindu nationalist party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Others include Muslim leaders and Islamic experts.
The new code, according to BJP officials, is an attempt to modernise Muslim personal rules in India and provide full equality for women; it is based on the country’s constitution from 1950.
However, a large number of muslims believe that Modi’s party is driven by a Hindu ideology that targets them unfairly and enacts legislation that contradicts Islamic law. There are no strict regulations on the marriage of children according to Sharia, and Muslim males are allowed to marry up to four wives.
Jafar claims that the code’s passing is an attempt by Modi’s administration to demonise Islam and deflect focus from more important matters, such as enhancing Muslims’ livelihoods.
While the Supreme Court’s 2017 ruling that Islamic rapid divorce violates women’s equal rights did not outright prohibit polygamy, it did find that the practice was illegal.
The new legislation prohibits polygamy, establishes a minimum age for both sexes to get married, and ensures that adopted children, children born outside of wedlock, and surrogate babies all receive an equal portion of the ancestral property.
Some Muslim lawmakers claim it infringes upon the basic freedom to practise religion, while BJP officials and women’s rights advocates claim the code seeks to remove archaic practices.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board expressed their concern that the code was both unrealistic and harmful to India’s diverse religious population.
“Banning polygamy makes little sense because data shows very few Muslim men have more than one wife in India,” said board official S.Q.R. Ilyas, adding that the government has no right to question sharia law.
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