Author: Sharat Pradhan, Indo-Asian
News Service
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: February 4, 2003
URL: http://in.news.yahoo.com/030204/43/20rw6.html
Harassed and tortured for dowry,
thousands of poor Indian Muslim women have nowhere left to turn if their
greedy husbands and in-laws refuse to abide by the ruling of Islamic courts.
With neither the resources nor the
will to pursue dragging cases in courts of law, these hapless women feel
they are at god's mercy for justice.
Waiting outside an Islamic court
at one corner of the Nadwatul Ulema, an acclaimed centre for Islamic studies
in this Uttar Pradesh capital, a frail Shakila moaned: "I have been contesting
this case for two years.
"My husband was directed to keep
me with him, but he neither allows me to live with him nor is he willing
to divorce me," 22-year-old Shakila told IANS.
Another young woman, Rehana, approached
the same court with a complaint of harassment by her husband and in-laws
over dowry.
"Despite the court's repeated summons,
my husband has not cared to even appear before the qazi (Islamic court
judge)," Rehana said. "I don't have the money to hire a lawyer and go to
a civil court. Where do I go from here? I am at god's mercy."
Islamic courts that enforce Muslim
personal law -- even though their verdicts are not binding -- have largely
failed to deliver justice to hundreds of women who have been victims of
mental and physical torture at the hands of their dowry-greedy husbands
and in-laws.
Such courts were set up across the
country -- three in Uttar Pradesh -- as thousands of Muslims were up in
arms against a court order in the 1980s for maintenance to a woman called
Shah Bano who had separated from her husband.
Many in the community saw it as
an infringement on Muslim personal law and strong protests prompted the
then central government to overturn the court verdict through a constitution
amendment.
Maulana Badruddin Sambhli, Lucknow's
Shariat qazi or Islamic court judge, frankly admitted: "There is no way
we can ensure enforcement of the Shariat. We have to depend solely on the
fear of god in the minds of those who are expected to follow the Shariat
court's verdict."
Little wonder then that not many
opt for these courts. The Lucknow court has received only 500 cases since
1986 when it was set up.
"We have no machinery to get feedback
on whether our decision has been implemented or not," confessed the court's
administrative officer Mohammad Mustaqeem.
While most cases coming to the Shariat
court relate to husband-wife disputes, largely on account of dowry, occasionally
property disputes also land there.
Most applicants seeking justice
before the Shariat courts are poor, with no money or determination to take
their battle to the judiciary.
"Yes, only people who cannot afford
a lawyer come to us because we do not permit lawyers," said Mustaqeem.
"We expect people to be god-fearing and to understand that disobedience
of the Shariat would invite the almighty's wrath."
About 140 million Muslims form the
biggest religious minority in Hindu-dominated India. Some parties have
made the existence of separate Muslim personal law a political issue and
have been campaigning for a uniform civil code for all religions.
