Civil Society New, New Delhi
Published: Feb. 29, 2024
SOCIAL reforms have for long eluded Indian Muslims because of an obdurate clergy. Among the few willing to take them on has been Zakia Soman and women activists of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan working with her. But their efforts have met with little success and the established order has been able to brush them off. https://civilsocietyonline.com/interviews/ucc-is-right-on-polygamy-wrong-on-moral-policing/
Now, a law ushering in a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Uttarakhand does away with polygamy, sets 18 as the marriageable age for girls and, in addition to the earlier abolition of triple talaq, outlaws unilateral divorce.
Soman says she has no option but to welcome the UCC in the absence of voluntary reforms within the Muslim community. But she worries about social issues being used for political ends by the BJP. Moral policing is also a matter of concern. The UCC is both good and bad in parts, she says in an interview to Civil Society.