The committee, headed by former Panjab University professor Pam Rajput, was set up by the previous UPA government, but it submitted the report to WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi only a few days ago. The committee, headed by former Panjab University professor Pam Rajput, was set up by the previous UPA government, but it submitted the report to WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi only a few days ago.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development is considering recommendations of a panel that has suggested for redefining adultery that treats wife as a man’s “property”, a fresh look at term “cruelty” under the Hindu Marriage Act as it is currently based on patriarchal notions of a woman’s behaviour, and doing away with the concept of an “illegitimate” child.

The committee has also pitched for mandatory payment of maintenance to wife and children in the event of separation or divorce, doing away with the clause that it can be stopped if the woman was “unchaste” or had refused to stay with her husband. The panel has also pushed for giving woman more rights under the Hindu Succession Act.

The committee, headed by former Panjab University professor Pam Rajput, was set up by the previous UPA government, but it submitted the report to WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi only a few days ago. The panel has also called for separate law to fight “honour” killings, beside suggesting changes in the Muslim and the Christian family laws as they are loaded against women.

It recommended a complete ban on the practice of “oral, unilateral and triple talaaq (divorce)” and polygamy.

In its assessment of family and succession laws, the committee has said that not only married women, but also those in “live-in relationships which are in the nature of marriage” should be eligible to it. In case of separation, the panel suggested, “Provision which allows maintenance to be stopped if a woman has been unchaste or has refused to live with her husband should be deleted.” All relevant laws should be amended to declare the mother as a “natural guardian” of the child along with the father when a child’s custody has to be decided, the report said.

On the matter of devolution of a property owned by a woman, the committee said that appropriate changes should be made in Sections 15 and 16 of the Hindu Succession Act so that in absence of her husband and children, the property goes to her parents or her parents’ heirs/siblings instead of relatives of her husband.

The committee, in its recommendation, said, “Section 16 (of the Hindu Marriage Act) should be amended to include all children born outside wedlock and not only children of void and voidable marriages. Further the term ‘illegitimate’ should not be used in any statute of document.” The section deals with the legitimacy of children and the recommendation if accepted would mean that the marital status of parents would not have any bearing on the legal status of an offspring in terms of succession and other rights.

In its analysis of the Muslim and the Christian family laws too, the committee has identified instances where the laws are loaded against women. It has called for a complete ban on oral, unilateral and triple talaaq as provided in the Muslim personal laws, and also an amendment to do away with polygamy. Under the Christian law, the period of two years of separation for mutual consent divorce should be changed to one year in line with the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act.

A senior official in the ministry said: “It is a very good report, we are studying it. It has recommended changing the tone and tenor of family laws cutting across the religious divide. These recommendations are now under consideration”.

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