The Hindu : National : Muslim women plea in Imrana case

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Thursday, Jul 07, 2005

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National

Muslim women plea in Imrana case

Special Correspondent

"Fatwa doesn't reflect tenets of Islam"

AHMEDABAD: A group of Muslim women in Gujarat associated with a women's rights organisation has strongly condemned the "communalisation and sensationalisation" of the Imrana case in Muzaffarpur in Uttar Pradesh.

They also decried the "fatwa" issued by the Muslim clergy. (Imrana was allegedly raped by her father-in-law and ordered by clerics not to live with her husband.)

A statement signed by 17 Muslim women social and human rights activists said they strongly condemned the communalisation of the case which should have been left within the purview of the women's human right organisations and the criminal justice system.

They said that the "fatwa" did not reflect the tenets of Islam and was contrary to the principle of natural justice as propagated by Islam.

They regretted that such bodies were given legitimacy in a democratic country such as India.

"Deeply anguished"

"We are also deeply anguished that every time a case of violation of a Muslim woman's rights occurs, it gives rise to the otherwise dormant debate on the Common Civil Code, while experiences of women's groups are that all times, Hindus or Muslims, or other caste panchayats have always violated women's rights and never provided justice to them."

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