The Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ) has urged the government not to discourage marriage of girls before 18 years of age, citing separate Muslim laws for marriage and divorce.
“Since the Muslims had rights to get their children married at an early age under a separate Muslim law, the government should not infringe upon it,” the TNTJ said here on Sunday.
In a press release, it also put forth a 12-point charter of demands, besides announcing a ‘fill-the-jail’ protest demanding 10 per cent reservations for Muslims in State and Central government jobs.
Several other resolutions, including discouraging co-education in schools, were adopted at the executive committee meeting of the THTJ’s Madurai district unit on Sunday.
The meeting also condemned the action by officials against parents who arranged early marriage for their children, which, according to TNTJ, is only in the best interest of the girls as it would prevent them from ‘falling prey to love affairs’.
Blaming the co-education system in Indian institutions for unrestricted freedom that “misguided and provoked several girls to elope from home at an early age”, the executive committee adopted a resolution against co-education, which said that boys would score “good marks if taught separately.”
Blaming the slow pace in delivering justice for provoking youth to commit heinous crimes, the TNTJ demanded filling of vacancies in the judiciary to ensure verdict is delivered in all cases within 50 days. It also stressed the need for considering converted Muslims as backward community for reservation in government jobs.