Pooja Bora, Pune
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) decided on Sunday that they will be looking into getting the Supreme Court to repeal its order on alimony for divorced Muslim women. The board adopted more resolutions, including one against the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the Worship Places Act of 1991 and the Palestine crisis.
This resolution comes in light of the Supreme Court’s order, announced on Wednesday, which stated that Section 125 of the Criminal Procedures Code or Cr(PC) applies to all married women, irrespective of their religion. The Section deals with the maintenance received by a woman from her husband after divorce. The ruling came when a Muslim man from Telangana moved the state High Court for requiring him to give alimony to his former spouse.
AIMPLB finds the ruling to be against Islamic Shariah law which only mandates maintenance to be given during the roughly three-month iddat period. The board is now looking into all measures to “roll back” the ruling. The board gave several other resolutions on Sunday including one against UCC. The board perceives the Uniform Civil Code passed by the Uttarakhand government as detrimental to Muslim Personal Law and they intend to file a petition challenging it in the Uttarakhand High Court.
The resolution also called for the apex court to apply the Worship Places Act of 1991 to recent cases of religious disputes. The act prohibits the conversion of any religious place and maintenance of its status as it existed on the eve of Independence. The board highlighted the issues of Gyanvapi Masjid and Eidgah Masjid and asked the court to resolve these conflicts. They also condemned the alleged increase in mob lynchings in the country recently.
Another resolution was on the status of the Waqf Act. Recent challenges to the Act have been of great concern to the board who feel that diminishing the Act would risk Waqf properties which they feel should solely be owned by Muslims. The board also talked about the Palestine crisis and demanded that the government halt military aid to Israeli forces and take a stand in support of Palestine.