Secular Muslims slam AIMPLB statement

Two organisations — Muslims for Secular Democracy (MSD) and Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) — have termed a statement made by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) in the Supreme Court as anti-women and against the tenets of the Quran and Sunnah. The two organisations have said that the statement shows the community in a bad light and to be regressive.

The statement in question roughly reads, “Men have greater reasoning power compared to women,” and both MSD and BMMA have termed it as patriarchal, saying it smacks of a medieval mindset and prejudice against women.

S.N. Noorjehan of BMMA also said: “The presumption that allowing triple talaq would take care of women being murdered and illicit relationships is a fallacy and the facts do not bear this out.”

She added: “Their justification of triple talaq contravenes the Constitution and indeed the principles of gender justice in Islam. Nowhere in the Islamic world is triple talaq legal. We oppose it and demand a legal ban on it.”

Javed Anand of MSD said: “Groups like the AIMPLB have no right to speak a language that hurts the dignity of women. Such organisations must shut shop as they are no longer fit to exist in a modern society, which values equality, justice, freedom and democracy.”