Thread by @RashmiDVS

A refresher on the #ShahBano case where Congress took away maintenance money from divorced dependent Muslim women for appeasement of its patriarchal spokespeople with an act ironically titled The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 against Supreme Court ju't

In 1932, Shah Bano, a Muslim woman, was married to Mohammed Ahmad Khan, an affluent and well-known advocate in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and had five children from the marriage. After 14 years, Khan took a younger woman as his second wife.

Then after years of living with both wives, he divorced Shah Bano when she was 62 years old. In April 1978, when Khan stopped giving her the ₹200 per month he had apparently promised, claiming that she had no means to support herself and her children.

She filed a criminal suit at a local court in Indore, against her husband under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, asking him for a maintenance amount of ₹500 for herself and her children.

In November 1978 her husband gave an irrevocable talaq (divorce) to her which was his prerogative under Islamic law and took up the defense that hence Bano had ceased to be his wife

and therefore he was under no obligation to provide maintenance for her as except prescribed under Islamic law which was in total ₹5,400.

In August 1979, the local court directed Khan to pay a sum of ₹25 per month to Bano by way of maintenance. On 1 July 1980, on a revisional application of Bano, the High Court of Madhya Pradesh enhanced the amount of maintenance to ₹179.20 per month.

Khan then filed a petition to appeal before the Supreme Court claiming that Shah Bano is not his responsibility anymore because Mr. Khan had a second marriage which is also permitted under Islamic Law.
#ShahBano

When the case reached the Supreme Court of India seven years had elapsed. The Supreme Court invoked Section 125 of Code of Criminal Procedure, which applies to everyone regardless of caste, creed, or religion. It ruled that Shah Bano be given maintenance money, similar to alimony

The Court held that a common civil code will help the cause of national integration by removing disparate loyalties to laws that have conflicting ideologies.

#ShahBano

In the 1984 Indian general election, Indian National Congress won an absolute majority in the parliament. After the Shah Bano judgment, many leaders in the Indian National Congress suggested to the Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi..

...that if the government did not enact a law in Parliament overturning the Supreme Court judgment, the Congress would face decimation in the polls ahead.

In 1986, the Parliament of India passed an act titled The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, which nullified the Supreme Court's judgment in the Shah Bano judgment. Diluting the Supreme Court judgment.

the act allowed maintenance to a divorced woman only during the period of iddat, or till 90 days after the divorce, according to the provisions of Islamic law. This was in stark contrast to Section 125 of the Code.

A uniform civil code is necessary for the preservation of basic human dignity in this country!
I rest my case.