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SC sends reminder to Centre on Muslim personal laws

NEW DELHI: Resisting the Supreme Court’s suo motu decision to test the legal validity of triple talaq in Muslim personal law, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has said that the country’s top court has no jurisdiction to undertake the exercise as the community’s personal law was based on the Quran and not on a law enacted by Parliament.The board also challenged the utility of a uniform civil code which, it said, was no guarantee of national integrity and solidarity, arguing that a shared faith did not prevent Christian nations engaging in two World Wars.In a similar vein, the AIMPLB said the Hindu Code Bill had failed to eradicate caste discrimination.Drawing a line between a law enacted by the legislature and social norms dictated by religion, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board through advocate Ejaz Maqbool told the Supreme Court, “Mohammedan law is founded on the Holy Quran and Ahadith of the Prophet of Islam and this cannot fall within the purview of the expression ‘laws in force’, as mentioned in Article 13 of the Constitution.” “The personal law of Muslims has not been passed or made by a legislation,” it said.“Muslim personal law is a cultural issue, it is inextricably interwoven with the religion of Islam. Thus, it is the issue of freedom of conscience guaranteed under Articles 25 and 26 read with Article 29 of the Constitution,” it said in an affidavit filed in court, quoting a series of SC judgments which apparently ruled that provisions of personal law could not be challenged for violation of fundamental rights.The SC had decided on its own to examine the rights of Muslim women, finding that there was no safeguard against arbitrary divorce by Muslim men. The 43-year-old organisation said there were periodic noises by a section of society demanding an uniform civil code. “If the SC lays down special rules for Muslim women it will amount to judicial legislation,” it said.“Is uniform civil code imperative to national unity, integrity and solidarity?” it asked and said if that been so, there would not have been two world wars between armies belonging to the same Christian religion.Countering the idea of uniform civil code, AIMPLB said the Hindu Code Bill, which was passed in 1956 to bring uniformity in personal law among different sects of Hindus, has failed to achieve integration among different sects of Hindus. “Are there not caste divisions which still exist and has caste become extinct? Is untouchability non-existent? Are there no grievances of Dalits about discriminatory treatment?,” the board said.