Divorced Muslim Woman’s Right to Maintenance Applies Even after Remarriage: Bombay HC
New Age
Islam News Bureau
06 January 2024
· Divorced Muslim Woman’s Right to Maintenance Applies Even after Remarriage: Bombay HC
·
Two Muslim
Women, Nazneen Ansari And Najma Parvin, Set To Bring Ram Jyoti From Ayodhya To
Kashi
·
Iranian
Hijab Rebel Roya Heshmati Whipped 74 Lashes and ZeynabKhonyabpour Given Two
Years Jail Term
·
Kerala
Cleric Booked Over Remark On Muslim Women And ‘Loose Morals’ Who Did Not Wear
Headscarves Or Hijab
·
Amnesty
International Urges Immediate Halt To Afghan Women’s Dress Code Crackdown And
Detentions
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/divorced-muslim-remarriage-bombay-hc/d/131467
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Divorced Muslim Woman’s Right to
Maintenance Applies Even after Remarriage: Bombay HC
Jan 06, 2024
The Bombay High Court in India has ruled
that a divorced Muslim woman is entitled to maintenance from her former
husband, even after she has remarried. The court stated that the intent of the
law is to protect all divorced Muslim women and ensure their right to a normal
life. The ruling came in response to a petition filed by a man who argued that
he should not have to pay maintenance because his ex-wife had remarried. The
court rejected this argument, stating that it would frustrate the purpose of
the law.
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday
held that a divorced Muslim woman’s right to maintenance from her former
husband is unconditional and applicable even after she is remarried.
The single judge bench of justice Rajesh
Patil said that though the word “remarriage” was missing from section 3(1)(a)
of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act (MWPA), 1986, under
which divorced Muslim women are entitled to reasonable maintenance from their
former husband, the intent of the law towards protecting divorced women even
after their remarriage was clear.
“The Act seeks to prevent the
destitution of Muslim women and ensure their right to lead a normal life even
after divorce,” said justice Patil. “Hence the legislative intent of the Act is
clear. It is to protect ‘all’ divorced Muslim women and safeguard their rights.
The protection referred to in the MWPA is unconditional. Nowhere does the said
Act intend to limit the protection that is due to the former wife on the
grounds of her remarriage,” the judge added.
The entitlement of divorced Muslim women
to a reasonable and fair provision and maintenance is crystallised on the date
of divorce and is not hampered by the former wife’s remarriage, the court said
while dismissing the petition filed by a Chiplun resident who works in Saudi
Arabia.
The appellant and his former wife got
married in 2005, and their daughter was born the following year. Meanwhile, he
shifted to Saudi Arabia for work and his wife stayed with his parents in
Chiplun before moving in with her own parents in June 2007, also in Chiplun. On
April 5, 2008, he divorced her by registered post.
Subsequently, his wife filed a plea for
maintenance for herself and her daughter, invoking provisions of the MWPA,
which was upheld by the magistrate court. Ordered to pay ₹4.32 lakh as
maintenance to wife, he filed an appeal in the sessions court, which rejected
his plea and enhanced the maintenance amount to ₹9 lakh.
The appellant then approached the high
court, primarily contending that he was not liable to pay any maintenance to
his ex-wife because she had remarried in the interim.
Justice Patil rejected his plea
observing that if such an argument was accepted and the husband was absolved of
his duty upon his ex-wife’s remarriage, then the husband would deliberately wait
for his ex-wife to get remarried. “Such a condition is unfair and unacceptable
and will frustrate the very essence of the said Act,” the judge stated.
Source: hindustantimes.com
https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/mumbai-news/divorced-muslim-woman-s-right-to-maintenance-applies-even-after-remarriage-hc-101704482369897.html
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Two Muslim Women, Nazneen Ansari And
Najma Parvin, Set To Bring Ram JyotiFrom Ayodhya To Kashi
Representative Image
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Jan 6, 2024
VARANASI: Ahead of the consecration
ceremony, two Muslim women, Nazneen Ansari and Najma Parvin, from Varanasi will
bring ‘Ram Jyoti’ (Ram torch) from Ayodhya and take it through the Muslim
localities to spread the message that Lord Ram is their ancestor, and the DNA
of every Indian is the same. The women will leave for Ayodhya on Saturday.
Their journey to Ayodhya will be flagged
off by Kashi’s Domraj Om Chaudhary and Mahant of Patalpuri Math Balak Das.
Mahant Shambhu Devacharya will hand over Ramjyoti to them in Ayodhya. The women
will return with Ramjyoti on Sunday. The soil of Ayodhya and the holy water of
the Saryu will also be brought to Kashi. The distribution of Ramjyoti will
start on January 21.
Nazneen, who studied conflict management
at BHU, has translated Hanuman Chalisa and Ramcharit Manas in Urdu. She has
been working tirelessly for unity and peace. Mahant Balak Das of Patalpuri Math
is her guru, and she is engaged in spreading Ram Bhakti (devotion to Ram) by
joining the Rampanth, a right-wing organisation engaged in social work and
centred around devotion to Ram. “We are happy that Ram temple has been
constructed in Ayodhya. Ram is our ancestor. A person can change his religion
but not the ancestor. Just as Mecca is for Muslims, Ayodhya is a holy place for
Hindus and those who believe in Indian culture,” said Nazneen. Najma has done
PhD on Prime Minister Narendra Modi from BHU. She has been engaged in Ram
Bhakti for 17 years. She has been communicating with Muslims and Hindus across
the country through the Varanasi-based Hindu-Muslim Dialogue Centre. Nazneen and
Najma have also fought against the triple talaq. They have the support of
scores of Muslim women.
When the terrorists bombed the
SankatMochan temple in 2006 and the entire nation was burning in the fire of
hatred, Nazneen, the president of Muslim Women Foundation, and Najma of Vishal
Bharat Sansthan went to the temple with 70 Muslim women and recited Hanuman
Chalisa to restore communal harmony. Since then, they have been performing Shri
Ram Aarti with hundreds of Muslim women during Ram Navami and Diwali.
The head of Rampanth, Rajiv Sriguruji,
Mahant ShambhuDevacharya of Ayodhya, Mahant Balak Das of Patalpuri Math have
started Ram Parivar Bhakti Movement. They have also planned the consecration of
Shri Ram in Patalpuri Math on January 22 and vowed to take Ramjyoti to the
people of Varanasi and other districts.
Sriguruji said that Nazneen and Najma
will leave for Ayodhya on Saturday to bring the Ramjyoti. While returning,
Ramjyoti will be welcomed at various places in Jaunpur and Varanasi. The people
of Muslim community will welcome Ramjyoti at Subhash Bhawan in Lamahi village
in Varanasi on January 7.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/two-muslim-women-to-bring-ramjyoti-from-ayodhya-to-kashi-news-publication/articleshow/106588438.cms
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Iranian Hijab Rebel Roya Heshmati
Whipped 74 Lashes and ZeynabKhonyabpourGiven Two Years Jail Term
05 Jan 2024
An Iranian woman received 74 lashes for
defying the Islamic Republic’s mandatory hijab, while another hijab refuser was
given a two-year prison sentence.
Iranian authorities on Wednesday
executed the sentence of 74 lashes on Roya Heshmati, a woman who had been
convicted for refusing to adhere to the compulsory hijab in accordance with a
court's orders in Tehran.
Heshmati, a vocal critic of compulsory
hijab, shared a distressing account of her experience during the execution of
her sentence. She disclosed that on the day of the punishment, she, accompanied
by her lawyer, arrived at the enforcement unit to undergo the 74 lashes.
Heshmati stressed that upon entering the courthouse, she had removed her hijab,
and when officials admonished her to cover up, she defiantly asserted, "I
have come to receive my lashes; I won't cover up."
According to Heshmati, the enforcement
officer threatened to intensify the lashes and open a new case against her for
non-compliance with hijab if she did not cover up.
Providing a vivid description of the
whipping room, Heshmati wrote, "They opened the iron door. The room had
cement walls. There was a small bed in the corner with iron shackles on both
sides... A medieval torture chamber."
The international community strongly
condemns the use of degrading and inhumane punishments, such as flogging, which
is explicitly prohibited under the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. Iran's continued use of such humiliating punishments sets it
apart as one of the few countries that still resort to such practices.
In another case, Zeynab (Bahar)
Khonyabpour, a resident of Behbahan in Ahvaz province and an opponent of
compulsory hijab, has been sentenced to two years in prison for sharing photos
without hijab on social media. Her lawyer, Sajjad Chatrsefid, confirmed that
she was sentenced to imprisonment by the Behbahan Criminal Court.
Source: iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202401050537
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Kerala Cleric Booked Over Remark On
Muslim Women And ‘Loose Morals’ Who Did Not Wear Headscarves Or Hijab
January 6, 2024
Shaju Philip
Kerala’s Kozhikode city police lodged an
FIR against a prominent Muslim cleric for his alleged remark “Muslim women who
did not wear headscarves or hijab were persons of loose morals” during a
television debate.
V P Suhra, president of NISA, a forum of
progressive Muslim women, had filed a complaint on October 7 last year over
Sunni cleric Mukkam Umar Faizi’s alleged remark. An FIR was lodged Thursday
under IPC Sections 295A (outraging the religious sentiments) and 298 (uttering
words to insult religious feelings).
Welcoming the police action, Suhra said
Friday, “We have had several such incidents. They want to paint the Muslim
community and women in a poor light. They want to create tension in the
community by dividing the women into those wearing veils and those not wearing
it. Faizi has insulted all the women who do not wear the headscarf.’’
Suhra alleged that the police initially
did not take action on her complaint. “When I filed a complaint on October 7,
the police said they would register a case if they get a directive from the
court. Later, we got the legal opinion that the police can act upon the
complaint. We were seriously and determinedly following our complaint to ensure
that the cleric is booked for his offensive remark,’’ she said.
The television debate, in which Faizi
took part, was in the backdrop of the controversial statement of CPI(M) leader
K Anil Kumar during a seminar on the Uniform Civil Code in October last year.
Kumar said, “the Communist party’s
influence had led to Muslim girls in Malappuram giving up the hijab” and
equated it to the community becoming more “progressive”.
He came under fire from CPI(M) Lok Sabha
MP A M Arif and several other Muslim leaders in the party.
CPI(M) state secretary and Politburo
member M V Govindan had said the party did not agree with Kumar’s stand. “The
right to wear what they want is part of one’s fundamental and democratic right.
Nobody should infringe upon that right. Anil Kumar should have avoided the
controversial statement,’’ he said.’
Source: indianexpress.com
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/thiruvananthapuram/kerala-cleric-booked-over-remark-on-muslim-women-and-loose-morals-9097270/
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Amnesty International urges immediate
halt to Afghan women’s dress code crackdown and detentions
Fidel Rahmati
January 6, 2024
Amnesty International has called on the
Taliban to immediately cease their crackdown on women in Afghanistan, including
detaining those who do not adhere to strict dress codes that require only their
eyes to be visible.
This global rights group strongly
condemns these actions as severe violations of women’s freedom of movement and
expression.
Amnesty International stated on its
social media platform on Friday, “The Taliban’s dress-code crackdown and
arbitrary arrests are further violations of women’s freedom of movement and
expression in Afghanistan.” They further urged the Taliban administration to
immediately halt the crackdown and release the detained women, saying, “The
crackdown must be ceased immediately, and those detained should be released.”
According to reports, Zahra Mohammadi,
one of the female protestors, tragically took her own life after being released
from Taliban captivity.
Officials from the Afghan Women’s
Solidarity Movement confirmed on Friday that a member of their protest group
had taken her own life in Kunduz Province.
The group’s women’s rights activists
revealed that Bibi Gul, a 21-year-old, had been imprisoned since the onset of
the Taliban regime and had been contemplating suicide continuously after her
release from prison.
They stated that Bibi Gul, who tragically
threw herself into a well in Kunduz Province on Friday, December 23, 2023,
ultimately lost her life in a local hospital on Sunday, January 1st, 2024.
Members of the Afghan Women’s Solidarity
Movement stated that this 21-year-old woman, named “Zahra Mohammadi,” had been
detained by the Taliban in Kunduz Province along with other women’s rights
activists during the protests against the Taliban in September 2021.
On the other hand, the Taliban’s
Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice confirmed the
detention of several women in Kabul for improper veiling. However, the exact
number of detainees remains undisclosed.
According to reports, the Taliban had
detained ‘dozens’ of women in western Kabul under the pretext of “bad hijab,”
taking them to undisclosed locations without informing their families. Women’s
rights activists are demanding their unconditional release and United Nations
intervention.
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/amnesty-international-urges-immediate-halt-to-afghan-womens-dress-code-crackdown-and-detentions/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/divorced-muslim-remarriage-bombay-hc/d/131467