Feature

Legal literacy workshops on women’s rights in and around Bangalore reveal that most Muslim women are either unaware of their rights on marriage or simply do not assert themselves.


It is a gathering of nearly 45 Muslim women in the party hall of a modest hotel in Yelahanka in the outskirts of Bangalore. The banner strung at the back of the dais announces the agenda of the meeting in Urdu, Kannada and English: Awareness about the Rights of Muslim Women-Programme for Men and Women. The meet is convened by FEMWOB (Federation of Muslim Women’s Organisations of Bangalore) in league with a Delhi based NGO known as IFES.


The male speaker on the dais is listing out the rights of the Muslim women on marriage as enshrined in the holy Quran and the Muslim Personal Law in simple Urdu. “A Muslim woman should receive her Mehr (dower) from the groom before the consumation of the marriage. Mehr should not be a token amount, but should be befitting the social and economic status of the two sides. The dowry, ornaments and gifts brought by the bride and salaries or wages from her own work (in case of working wives) are hers and at no cost the husband can lay claim on them at any stage of marital life. She need not part with any portion of her salary or her own earnings for the running of the house. Nor she is expected to maintain the family with her earnings. On divorce, which could be given only over a 3-month period, she will carry home all that she herself owns, the gifts she received from her in-laws, three months of maintenance and a sizeable sum under mataum bilmauroof (fair provision) under the Quranic law. A woman could lay down any condition in her nikahnama (marriage document). She could demand that the husband could contract a second marriage only with her consent, or else their marriage would be null and void. She could even demand to live in a house independent of her in-laws.”


Speech gets over with an applause. Feedback team takes over the floor asking as to how many of women participants received their mehr upon marriage. Only two hands go up in the air. ‘What was the mehr amount they received?’ The query is initially welcomed with a hushed silence for moments. But soon soft murmurings interrupt the quietude of the hall. Coordinator of the Programme, Dr. Suraiya Tabassum (who was specially flown down from Delhi for the meeting) coaxes the women to be vocal. With smiles beneath their lips, the two women say they received sums of Rs. 125 and Rs. 1,250 towards mehr. Rasheeda (names changed) complains that whenever she broaches the subject of Mehr, her husband threatens to send her back to her parental home. Aarifa, Khuteja and several others of her age concur that all that they knew was that Mehr has to be paid only if the marriage ends in divorce or has to be written off if the husband predeceases wife.


As for inheritance, the gathered women are sure that be it Hindus or Muslims, the womenfolk hardly ever bequeath anything from their fathers or husbands. There is a consensus that ‘the dowry they received at the time of their marriage is deemed to be their share in inheritance from parents’. Queried if they expect something would come their way if they still insist on their share, the resignation-laced reply is: “We have already relinquished our claim in favour of our brothers”.


The workshop at Yelahanka is not unique in itself. Femwob-Ifes have so far held nearly a dozen of these conclaves at locales inhabited by middle class Muslims in and around Bangalore during the last three months. Says Federation (Femwob) convener Prof. (Mrs.) Hasnath Mansur, “we have taken up the legal literacy campaign to arouse consciousness among Muslim women of their rights within Muslim Personal Law”. “Dowry is as rampant among them as among other communities in India. Mehr is generally denied. Share in inheritance is out of question, given the fact that dowry is considered an advance payment of it. Bride’s ornaments are promptly pawned with moneylenders without any qualms of conscience. And worse of all, the working wives have hardly any right over their salaries or earnings”, adds Mrs. Mansur.


Says Dr. Suraiya Tabassum, Coordinator for the Muslim Women’s Initiative of the IFES, the question of reforming Muslim Personal Law or even talking about reproductive rights of the Muslim women is fraught with controversy, hence we do not touch them. “We talk about the Muslim women’s Quranic and Constitutional rights and train and sensitise IFES-supported counseling center staff, lawyers and para-legals in issues specific to Muslim women, thereby enhancing their capacity to provide targeted legal aid and legal literacy services.”


International Forum for Election System (IFES) is a Washington DC based NGO which was initially working for strengthening electoral democracy in third world countries but is currently concentrating on training staff of the Election Commissions, training their staff in preparation of voters list, delimitation of constituencies and managing polling booths.


The Initiative has been launched in six districts of Karnataka namely, Bangalore, Bijapur, Mysore, Dharwad, and Bidar and six districts of Rajasthan viz, Ajmer, Alwar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Kota.


Ajmer, Aligarh, Delhi Survey

Few know their rights, Fewer demand it

A survey conducted recently by Dr. Suraiya Tabassum in three cities of Ajmer, Aligarh and Delhi comprising 1,015 Muslim women reveals that majority of the women are not aware of their property rights. Even if they know this, few were aware of the technicalities of it. Only 117 out of 722 women covered, got property right. While 88.9 per cent of them from all areas said that their parents gave it willingly, 5.9 percent got it only after they asked for it. One woman in Delhi fought for it through legal course. Here she exhibited courage in questioning her father’s decisions and consequently got it. But she paid a price for this; father never invited her to the home afterwards. Respondents included 722 women (i.e., 70 %) and 293 men (30%). They represented all strata of the society. It revealed that more men (82%) were aware of the rights of the women than women (30%) themselves.


Right of Mehr

Majority of the respondents did not remember their mehr amount. Those who remembered their mehr, the amount ranged from Rs. 100-1000. Very few women had their mehr in the form of gold,
silver and property.


Practice of triple talaq

The majority of women (85.5 per cent) respondents felt that the system of triple talaq could not be justified. It is a welcoming note that (70.0 per cent) men respondents were also sharing the same views. They are of the opinion that this system needs to be banned for the welfare of women.


Khula (Women’s right to seek divorce)

Findings reveal that more than 56.1 per cent women respondents and 53.9 per cent men are unaware of the khula provision. They are also not aware of various enacted laws for the welfare of women as well.


Maintenance right of women

Maintenance right according to respondents is related only till iddat, “a period after the talaq” that is three months and ten days. They are not in favour of maintenance right after the iddat period.