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Indian Supreme Court puts bigamous Hindus on mat
NEW DELHI, May 10 (Reuter) - India's Supreme Court, crackingdown on
Hindus turning Moslem to marry more than one wife, asked the government on
Wednesday to end separate marriage laws for the two religions and introduce
a common civil code.
The court said that a second marriage of a Hindu man after conversion
to Islam was not valid unless the first one was legally dissolved. A
husband could be punished if he converted to Islam to marry a second time,
the court ruled.
The personal law applicable to Moslems, based on Islamic tradition,
allows them to marry up to four wives without obtaining a divorce.
The court asked Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to take a fresh look
at the Indian Constitution that allows followers of different religions to
practise separate laws on marriage, divorce and property.
Instead, a uniform civil code applicable to all citizens was
imperative, the judges said, and asked the government to file an affidavit
by August outlining the steps it was taking to enforce a uniform civil
code.
Predominantly Hindu India's secular constitution treats all religions
as equal but allows them separate personal rights.
A common civil law is a sensitive issue in India, which has a Moslem
population of some 120 million.
Right-wing Hindu groups, led by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), say Moslems refuse to join the national mainstream by
practising their personal laws supervised by the clergy.
The judges quoted the constitution: "The State shall endeavour to
secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of
India."
A major Hindu-Moslem rift erupted in 1986 when a Supreme Court
judgement called for a common civil law while ordering payment of
maintenance to a divorced Moslem woman, Shah Bano.
Moslem groups rose in anger against the judgement, saying the court
had no right to interpret a Moslem personal law, which only Islamic
scholars could do.
Led by then prime minister, the late Rajiv Gandhi, the Indian
parliament passed a law to help reverse the judgement, but triggered a
major controversy that provided ammunition to the BJP, then a fringe party.
REUTER
