‘We are fighting the good fight’

All the adjectives like lsquoprogressiversquo and lsquohistoricalrsquo used for the Supreme Court ruling that a divorced Muslim woman is entitled to seek maintenance from her husband under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code CrPC is not hyperbole but fits like the proverbial gloveSuperlativeThis ruling is progressive historical and much more It should have come a long time ago and now that it is here it is welcome This of course happened because a divorced woman asked for alimonymaintenance The family court upheld her right but that was challenged by her husband in the high court When the high court ruled in her favour it was challenged in the Supreme Court and the highest court of the land too ruled in her favour with a ruling that will positively impact Muslim womenThis has been a tremendous fight by the pathbreaker most women would have given up either because it is too difficult or the formidable costs involved in the legal battle This woman who has lit the path for others stood her ground and took the fight right to the end Even with the best intent in the world it is surely not easy to do that The Courts need to take Suo Moto cognisance of laws when it comes to gender parity and justice We must also think that this woman may have had a support system in terms of family and friends who stood by her during this fight This should remind us that not all Muslims are conservative or regressiveAftermathLooking at the immediate aftermath there has been much debate and even dissension about this ruling There are sections of Muslims who insist this is interference in the personal laws of the community This is an extremely archaic argument by those opposing it We cannot look at this through a personal ambit through a lsquothis matter is within the family or communityrsquo prism Do we not have cases where a brother kills his brother or son kills his father Is that an intrafamily matter and the law should not be applied in that case We are not living in medieval timesCurrently when a married couple divorces the man will pay maintenancealimony for three months the period of iddah How is that adequate A woman may suffer a long time postdivorce possibly forever So she is entitled to alimony whatever sum is decided It is always important to use entitled as rightly has the court said the alimony is a right not charity Every human needs a life of dignity The woman has made sacrifices in the marriage Looked after the home children possibly the husbandrsquos parents too in illness etc That is why I call this statement by the Court not charity but a fundamental right a lovely way to put it one that should resonate with all those who believe in the fundamental principle of equalityFearThere are all these statements being bandied about that this ruling is yet another attempt to chip away at the Muslim identity an onslaught on the religion etc This is an unfounded and in fact even artificially created fear I would first like to highlight though that in the past 10 years we have seen mob lynching and bulldozer raj where the community to some extent and rightly so did feel targeted Yet there was a legal framework and courts that one could approach The fear of those attacks had some basis However there can be no fear from this ruling which is a step in the right direction Then again we have all this talk about rulings like these opening the door to Uniform Civil Code UCC This will not happen as it is a coalition government at the centre What the Muslim community needs to do is reform and codify their lawsReformsThere are several other corrections we are looking towards One is the age of marriage in the Muslim community which should be 18 for girls and 21 for boys instead of 15 years for girls on attaining puberty as personal laws state The Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan BMMA is also fighting for polygamy to be made illegal With all the battles ahead it is when a ruling like this comes in that the sun starts shining through the darkness and cements our belief that we are fighting the good fight To bring about balance in the scales of justice impacts not just the community but society as a wholeAs told to Hemal AsharThe columnist is a cofounder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan