We all know the case.
The Facts: 28-year-old Imrana was raped by her father-in-law in June last year. She files a complaint and with that began the story of her unending troubles. What has followed in the aftermath of the rape is simply barbaric and it makes you react out of rage. I actually wanted to blow hot in this blog and vent out my anger but then I was advised by a friend to see it from a logical perspective.
He said, 'Do you think, the Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) doesn't see it? They don't see that it is wrong. The fact is we all know what's happening is wrong. But who is affected by it? No one... not you, me, the media, the clerics, people including Muslims who are reading this in the newspaper daily... no one but that hapless woman. See it from a larger perspective and you will know that it's all a game of power and religion is being used to wield the same.'
The injunctions that have been issued are not only baffling they are also irrational and ludicrous. The Deoband issued a decree (read 'fatwa') invalidating her marriage to her husband Nur Ilahi, asking her to marry the rapist and to treat her husband as her son! And now when the Muzaffarnagar sessions court has sentenced the rapist, the MPLB reacts to it by stating that since 'sexual union' has been proved she cannot live with her husband! Oh! It just can't get better than this!
I think nothing can ever come close to being more barbaric, insane, foolish, and preposterous than this in recent times at least! Are we actually living in the 21st century India? A woman who has been hurt irrevocably is being treated like an animal and all this in the name of religion!
Coming to the point, I must admit that those who think that 'they know it all' on Islam and have the power and feel that they are god's word on earth cannot be thrashed with theoretical reasoning (for all you know there are five other injunctions in the Holy Quran that cuts their absurd decrees!), so lets get a little practical with them. For if they cannot be beaten with logic, law or reason, then we might as well try and use a little common sense to din some sense in their heads.
I think the MPLB, the Deoband, have forgotten Imrana's five children in their bid to save religion and perpetuate male dominance. Let us ask them some real life practical questions.
What becomes of them when she marries her convicted father-in-law? What would the children be to her then? What would the children be to their father?
At the risk of sounding comical and depreciatory in our remarks let's ask what these kids would answer in school or tell in their neighbourhood when asked, 'who is your mother/father?'
What will they say? 'We have dropped from heaven.' 'My eldest brother is my father!' 'My grandmother is my mother... no we actually have no mother since our mother is our grandmother!'
In trying to interpret religion to wield power and protect their own vested interests the clerics here are forgetting that they are playing not only with Imrana's life but also with the life of the kids for no fault of hers.
The other injunction which frees Imrana to marry another man fails to take into account that a society where rape is considered a social stigma doesn't leave a choice for a poor woman with five children to even think of that option.
No, I am neither trying to be offensive nor comical here. But guys, lets just talk common sense. If the woman wants to live with her husband the clerics should come forward and support her instead of putting pressure on the husband to leave her. What is happening? How can we sacrifice humanity and common sense and then use religion to justify what's inhuman!
The latest on the front is that the MPLB has left it on Imrana to decide what she wants as there are conflicting views and differences of opinion among various schools of thought. But isn't it the duty of the MPLB and other clerics to weed out such biases and actually uphold what's right? Why is this case not being seen as another rape case where the culprit should be punished?
Instead, it has turned the other way round where the victim is being harassed when she should be supported for taking a bold step like that. It's a matter of shame for the entire nation.
Correct me if I am wrong.
About the AuthorGarima Dutt Garima Dutt is the Web Producer and Web Anchor for IBNLive.com and produces/anchors broadband shows on entertainment etc. She also writes for Ibnlive....Read Morefirst published:October 25, 2006, 16:37 ISTlast updated:October 25, 2006, 16:37 IST
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I am no authority on Muslim Personal Law nor can I talk at length about the virtue and vice of the Uniform Civil Code. But what's happening with Imrana is something that has unsettled me.
We all know the case.
The Facts: 28-year-old Imrana was raped by her father-in-law in June last year. She files a complaint and with that began the story of her unending troubles. What has followed in the aftermath of the rape is simply barbaric and it makes you react out of rage. I actually wanted to blow hot in this blog and vent out my anger but then I was advised by a friend to see it from a logical perspective.
He said, 'Do you think, the Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) doesn't see it? They don't see that it is wrong. The fact is we all know what's happening is wrong. But who is affected by it? No one... not you, me, the media, the clerics, people including Muslims who are reading this in the newspaper daily... no one but that hapless woman. See it from a larger perspective and you will know that it's all a game of power and religion is being used to wield the same.'
The injunctions that have been issued are not only baffling they are also irrational and ludicrous. The Deoband issued a decree (read 'fatwa') invalidating her marriage to her husband Nur Ilahi, asking her to marry the rapist and to treat her husband as her son! And now when the Muzaffarnagar sessions court has sentenced the rapist, the MPLB reacts to it by stating that since 'sexual union' has been proved she cannot live with her husband! Oh! It just can't get better than this!
I think nothing can ever come close to being more barbaric, insane, foolish, and preposterous than this in recent times at least! Are we actually living in the 21st century India? A woman who has been hurt irrevocably is being treated like an animal and all this in the name of religion!
Coming to the point, I must admit that those who think that 'they know it all' on Islam and have the power and feel that they are god's word on earth cannot be thrashed with theoretical reasoning (for all you know there are five other injunctions in the Holy Quran that cuts their absurd decrees!), so lets get a little practical with them. For if they cannot be beaten with logic, law or reason, then we might as well try and use a little common sense to din some sense in their heads.
I think the MPLB, the Deoband, have forgotten Imrana's five children in their bid to save religion and perpetuate male dominance. Let us ask them some real life practical questions.
What becomes of them when she marries her convicted father-in-law? What would the children be to her then? What would the children be to their father?
At the risk of sounding comical and depreciatory in our remarks let's ask what these kids would answer in school or tell in their neighbourhood when asked, 'who is your mother/father?'
What will they say? 'We have dropped from heaven.' 'My eldest brother is my father!' 'My grandmother is my mother... no we actually have no mother since our mother is our grandmother!'
In trying to interpret religion to wield power and protect their own vested interests the clerics here are forgetting that they are playing not only with Imrana's life but also with the life of the kids for no fault of hers.
The other injunction which frees Imrana to marry another man fails to take into account that a society where rape is considered a social stigma doesn't leave a choice for a poor woman with five children to even think of that option.
No, I am neither trying to be offensive nor comical here. But guys, lets just talk common sense. If the woman wants to live with her husband the clerics should come forward and support her instead of putting pressure on the husband to leave her. What is happening? How can we sacrifice humanity and common sense and then use religion to justify what's inhuman!
The latest on the front is that the MPLB has left it on Imrana to decide what she wants as there are conflicting views and differences of opinion among various schools of thought. But isn't it the duty of the MPLB and other clerics to weed out such biases and actually uphold what's right? Why is this case not being seen as another rape case where the culprit should be punished?
Instead, it has turned the other way round where the victim is being harassed when she should be supported for taking a bold step like that. It's a matter of shame for the entire nation.
Correct me if I am wrong.
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