New Delhi, August 17
Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj today said that there was no question of permitting any parallel Islamic judicial system in the country as the Constitution only recognised a judiciary functioning under the supervision of the Supreme Court of India.
“The Constitution does not recognise any Islamic courts. There is no question of having separate Islamic courts in the country,” Mr Bharadwaj said when his comments were sought by mediapersons at a press conference on yesterday’s Supreme Court order issuing notice to the Union Government on the reported functioning of Islamic courts in several states and their deciding cases of Muslims as per Shariat laws and issuing fatwas.
The Law Minister had called the press conference to explain the finer points of the Hindu Succession Act (Amendment) Bill passed by the Rajya Sabha, giving equal right to daughters along with sons in ancestral and father’s property.
Describing the step taken by the UPA government as “revolutionary” to remove the gender bias in the Hindu society, the Law Minister skipped question when asked whether the government planned to extend the same right to Muslim women also.
He merely said that in Islam “the right of daughter is defined better than any other religious community”.
“The marriage and succession pertaining to Muslims will be governed by their personal laws. We should not try to force any codification of these laws,” he said, adding that the Muslim community was not averse to reforming its laws “but the problem arises only when Hindus start saying that they should do it”.
When asked further whether the functioning of parallel Islamic courts did not pose a direct threat to the Constitution itself, Mr Bharadwaj said “Don’t bring such false alarm. All religious communities have to abide by the personal laws regarding marriage, succession and maintenance as recognised by the Constitution”.
He said if anything wrong was being done under the so called “Shariat laws, it is for the Muslim community to address to it. They should decide whether they be governed by the fatwas or not”.
Explaining about the amendment in the Hindu Succession Act, the minister said that not only the sons and daughters had been placed on an equal footing to claim the right in the ancestral and father’s property, but the children of the daughter had also been given equal rights by amending Section 6 of the Act.
He further said that there would be no distinction between married and unmarried daughters with regard to their equal share in father’s and ancestral property along with their brothers. The Bill which, according to the Law Minister, was a priority of the UPA government, had yet to be passed by the Lok Sabha.
However, the Bill protects the right of parents to make a will of the property earned by them. The amendment would not override their right to make a will about the division of the property as they had wished.
To another question about the demands coming from several quarters to amend the law to enforce state quota and reservation in private professional institutions in the wake of recent
judgment of the apex court doing away with the quota in unaided private and minority educational institutions, Mr Bharadwaj said “several representations have come on the issue. The Law Ministry is studying them and whatever action is needed, would be taken”.
To a question about the UPA government’s efforts on evolving a uniform civil code in the country, Mr Bharadwaj said it would be “welcomed if the minority community accepts it. Without their consent it would be difficult to achieve it”.
