Shah Bano: Muslim Women's Rights, Case Study

In the case pertaining to Shah Bano, we have decided to neither stand by the Supreme Court’s decision to override Muslim law and award maintenance to Bano, nor are we going to overthrow the decision and support the new Muslim Women’s Bill. We have decided to propose the development of a uniformed civil code that would apply to all citizens. In our unified civil code, there are three options. One is if you choose to get married through your church, you mist abide by Muslim law. The second is if you decide to get married through the state you are then covered by the Special Marriages Act of 1954. Last, you can choose both, and if your marriage is dissolved you can choose between the two in which you want to abide by.

When Bano was divorced from her husband, she said she was relieved and that she hated him, so obviously neither she nor her husband were happy in the relationship. Bano was fighting the courts to be awarded ongoing maintenance so she could be financially supported as a single woman. Maintenance is given to the wife for three months after a divorce, but clearly that is not enough.

We came up with this uniformed civil code in order to be fair to both the church and the state. Women’s rights in India are scarce as it is. This code is respecting both the majority and the minority. If we were to stand by the Supreme Court to override Muslim law and award Bano with the maintenance, we would be favoring a single person and this case would become precedent for future similar situations. Also, if we were to overthrow the decision and make Muslim personal law supreme in most cases we would also be favoring the majority. Many wives end up being widows and many couples end up getting divorced; therefore we saw the need to create a code that handles both issues simultaneously letting the person involved in the issue to make their own decision and be able to govern their own lives.  

If you choose option number one, then you must abide by Muslim law, or the law of you church. If you agree to this, you are aware that most personal codes belittle women and do not give them the same rights as the men, especially in marriage. A husband can divorce his wife without the wife’s consent, leaving her without ongoing maintenance. After the divorce, the woman must depend on her immediate family and the community to support her. Even though these codes are unfair to women, it is still dwelled upon by the media and politicians.

In our second option, you can choose to get married through the state, and therefore are covered by the Special Marriages Act of 1954. The Special Marriages Act of 1954 offers couples and non-religious alternative to personal laws. This act provides a special form of marriage not abiding by the religion or faith followed by either party.

Since it is so difficult to define a code for each community due to the religious diversity within Hinduism and Islam, we have created option number three. In this option you may be married under both church and state, and if the marriage is dissolved, the husband and wife can separately decide which law to abide by. This option gives the couple the right to autonomy. The husband or wife can make their decisions based on which law, the church or state that they want to follow. Choosing to be married under both church and state is highly frowned upon and contradicts the traditional Muslim culture, so consequences may come if option three is chosen.

In case a wife has been divorced or widowed before our unified civil code was created, she has the right under the Grandfather Clause to still have her rights. The Grandfather Clause states that if you are married before the civil code, and you are divorced or widowed, you can still get the benefits of whichever option you choose without having a license. This clause protects divorced or widowed wives who have been formerly abiding by the Muslim law or the state law.

In some areas, women are forced into marriages against their own will; therefore we have also created the Cohersive Marriage Clause. This clause states that if a woman is forced into marriage by state regulations and can prove it in court, you then can qualify for exemptions provided by the state. This benefits both the husband and wife because if the husband dies, he knows that his widowed wife will be taken care of.