Equality is the soul of progress. Man or woman, the Indian Constitution recognises their right to be equal citizens of a free India, subject to the uniform protection and punishment of its laws. Hence, it is not enough to pass a Uniform Civil Code—which Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu prefers to be called a Common Civil Code. What is needed is an Equal Civil Code, one that guarantees and enforces equality of gender.
The minority argument against triple talaq obfuscates the real issue. In 22 Muslim majority countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Cyprus, Tunisia, Algeria and Iran, triple talaq is disallowed. Indian Muslims and those of these nations, with the exception of Iran, share the same religious codes. They have a Uniform Civil Code, even though ironically the shariah is concurrent. They lack an Equal Civil Code.
The reason is that societies that are governed by religious customs do not accept gender equality. This is amply illustrated by the bizarre, misogynistic explanation given by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. Muslim wives were threatened with murder if oral talaq is banned. They explained that men are smarter in decision-making, and having four wives curbed illegal sex, as if the bodies of the women are the personal property of husbands. Laws, simply because they are theocratic, are not all suitable to contemporary times. Sati was a popular Hindu custom until it was outlawed—saving the property of widows from greedy relatives. The Church persecuted women it deemed as witches. The hapless females were given a choice—if they drowned, they were innocent, and if they didn’t, they were guilty and were thus forcibly drowned. In Saudi Arabia and Iran, women are executed for adultery or having sex outside marriage. Worse, rape is sanctioned by god in ISIS land. But India—in spite of Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma’s uniform disapproval of skirts—is waking up from its patriarchal prejudices, championed largely by the judiciary. Rape is a horrifying reality, but the laws against it are almost draconian.
By throwing open a temple and a mosque to women after centuries of discrimination, the courts upheld gender equality. The Islamic religious establishment perceives moves against triple talaq as sacrilege. But the issue here is larger than a Uniform Civil Code. It is about feminist reforms. Among Indian Muslims, the sex ratio is 951 women per 1,000 men. And the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan survey revealed 92.1 per cent Muslim women polled want triple talaq banned. Misuse is rampant—in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Arab men have been reportedly paying for temporary wives to be used as sex slaves, to be divorced later using triple talaq once the husbands are back in the Middle East.
A law is needed urgently to oust priests, male moral megaphones and the mob as the arbiters of life choices, and uniformly protect the rights of women, irrespective of religion. Nehru said the condition of a nation can be assessed by looking at the status of its women. By taking the Uniform Civil Code debate to the next level, it’s time to give Indian women their due. It is not enough to give them privileged minority status in history, as a Rani Lakshmi Bai, Sarojini Naidu or Indira Gandhi. Uniformity lies in the eye of the beholder. Equality lies in the hand of the upholder.
Ravi Shankar
ravi@newindianexpress.com