Muslim law board
to introduce model nikhanama soon
Kanpur:
Muslim Law Board members on Friday said their proposed
new marriage decree discouraging divorce in haste will be
in accordance with the age old Shariat law. The influential
All India Muslim Personal Law Board is campaigning to stop
men from divorcing their wives by simply saying the word
"talaq", or divorce, three times. Separate civil laws govern
marriage and divorce for the 120 million Muslims in India,
which is a secular state although most of its people are
Hindu. AIMPLB, which is made up of Islamic community leaders,
have a say over India's Muslims but no authority, said the
draft would specify the rights of women. "Earlier it was
not told that Nikaah is a very important thing. It is not
only about a boy and a girl getting married but their duties
and responsibilities. Rights of the wife which is very important.
This has been specially emphasised on," said Naeem Hamid,
Member of the All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board. "Triple
talaq" has drawn criticism from women groups and Hindu groups
that call for the use of common civil laws. "Muslim Personal
Law board is holding awareness campaigns in different states
to make people aware about what is right and wrong in the
of the tripple talaq. It is also mentioned it is wrong to
make any monetary exchange in a marriage," he added.
The
model nikahnama would come up for discussion at the annual
session of the AIMPLB slated to be held at Calicut in Kerala
from December 26. But there was a mixed response by the
Muslim women, with a few greeting it with a hope of change
and some respite for them. "If this model nikahanama is
keeping in view with the welfare of the ladies ansd goes
alongiwth the Shariat and Quran then it will be good," said
Nazeem Begum, a Muslim woman. Sonia Khan, another Muslim
woman, flayed the new proposal as a mere facade saying it
would not change their position in the conservative Muslim
society. "Model Nikahanama is nothing new for us. As earlier
the cleric used to say it orally during marriage ceremony.
But now it will be provided to both the parties in written.
But it is nothing new and revolutionary for it," said a
burqa clad Khan.
Muslims
in one-billion-strong India largely follow Islamic laws
that are interpreted and administered mainly by religious
and community leaders, with differences between sects. The
board said religious courts run by qazis, or community judges,
could provide a way out for couples involved in disputes.
Muslim divorces have been a controversial issue in the country.
A case in the mid-1980s involving Shah Bano, who took her
rejected demand for alimony to the Supreme Court, triggered
debate across India on whether the court had jurisdiction
over Muslim personal laws. The court's verdict upholding
her right to alimony was later reversed by a law pushed
through by the government of the day, setting off protests
by the opposition, who gained in popularity. The protests
have raised awareness in the community of the need to regulate
its practices, criticised by Hindu right-wingers as more
stringent than some Islamic nations.
Dacoits
gun down 14 Gujars near Gwalior (Go
To Top)
Bhanwarpura
(MP): Dacoits in Bhanwarpura in madhya Pradeh's Gwalior
District on Friday barged into a grazing land and opened
fire on villagers, killing 14 people, including women and
elders. Nine others have sustained bullet wounds. Terror
has gripped Bhanwarpura village, 40 km from Gwalior, the
main city of Madhya Pradesh, a known dacoit hub, as villagers
numb with fear mourned for their dead. Locals said the dacoits
belonged to the Rambabu Gadaria gang, named after the leader
of the outfit, who had committed the massacre after the
villagers had foiled a robbery attempt. Police is yet to
identify the gang but search parties have fanned out across
the region. "We received information that around 9 a.m (local
time) eight to nine people of the Gadaria gang came here
and killed people. We rushed to the spot, we have sent search
parties and cordoned off the entire area," said M.R Krishna,
inspector general of the Chambal-Gwalior zone. "We were
sitting here and then all of a sudden they opened fire.
They ran away killing my daughter.... ," said a tear-eyed
Ramesh. The Gadaria gang already has a reward of 750,000
rupees on its head. Madhya Pradesh, a huge heartland state
dotted with dense forests and ravines, has been a traditional
haven for dacoits, many finding fame as Robin Hood figures.
ND
Tiwari hints at resignation as Uttaranchal CM (Go
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New
Delhi: Uttaranchal Chief Minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari
on Friday indicated that he was ready to lay down office
if his Congress party wished so. Tiwari's comments came
even as local media speculated that the 80-year-old leader
would quit his post to take up a gubernatorial assignment.
"I have conveyed to the (Congress) party high command that
whatever duties they want me to undertake, be it at the
center (federal government), in main politics or as a governor,
I would accept them in complete earnestness. And as far
as my performance report card is concerned, the leadership
surely can find that out through their resources. I do not
claim to have done everything but, yes, we have definitely
laid a good foundation," Tiwari said in an interview in
New Delhi after extensive parleys with Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Gandhi also reportedly
had meeting with senior party leaders from Uttaranchal including
the state Congress unit president Harish Rawat, tipped by
insiders as the next chief minister.
Rawat, however, has denied the report. "The change of chief
ministership for the state as yet is a speculative situation
and I will make no comments on that. To change the state
chief is for honourable Narayan Dutt Tiwari and the party's
leadership, Sonia ji (Congress president Sonia Gandhi),"
he said. Uttaranchal, a hilly state home to the world's
fouth biggest hydropower and some of the nation's most revered
shrines, has been mired with protests over better relocation
package and employment to agitations for shifting of state
capital to a remote hilly terrain from the well-established
Dehradun, an important trade and civil center during the
British colonial era.
Congress,
NCP meet to elect their respective leaders (Go
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Mumbai:
Legislature parties of the Congress and the Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP) have begun a meeting at the Vidhan
Bhavan and the NCP party headquarters respectively to elect
their new leaders, party sources said. Senior Congress leaders
Gulam Nabi Azad, Digvijay Singh and Margaret Alva, who is
also the in-charge of party affairs in Maharashtra are attending
the Congress meeting as observers, the party's spokesman,
Anant Gadgil, said. Senior NCP leaders Tariq Anwar and D.P.
Tripathi will oversee the third legislature party meeting
since declaration of assembly poll results on October 16.
JD(U)
rejects Advani's Hindutva plank (Go
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Ranchi:
Differences surfaced in the National Democratic Alliance
over newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party president LK Advani's
move to invoke Hindutva and bring back Ayodhya to the centrestage
with the Janata Dal (United) declaring that it would review
its ties with the saffron party. "We reject outright the
BJP's plan to invoke the Hindutva plank. We will not compromise
on our ideology," JD-U parliamentary party leader Nitish
Kumar told his party workers on the concluding day of the
three-day conclave in Pawapuri, Bihar on Thursday. "Nobody
will be allowed to destroy the secular fabric of our country
where there are equal rights guaranteed for the people belonging
to all the religions," he said alleging that the Hindutva
plank smacked of 'religious fundamentalism' JD-U president
George Fernandes said he would talk to BJP president L K
Advani on the sudden shift in the BJP's stance. He said
that his party had extended support to the erstwhile NDA
government on the promise that the saffron brigade would
drop issues like construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya,
Hindutva and abrogation of Article 370. He said that the
JD-U national executive would meet in Ranchi on Friday to
review the political situation arising out of the appointment
of 'hardliner' Advani as BJP president.
SC
declines to pass stay orders on TN Governor's transfer (Go
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New
Delhi: The Supreme Court today declined to pass any
interim order on the Tamil Nadu suit seeking to restrain
the Centre and the President from transferring Governor
P.S. Ramamohan Rao. A bench headed by Chief Justice R.C.
Lahoti said that they would not grant any stay in the matter,
as it was not a case for passing an interim order. "We will
hear it when the matter comes up for hearing," they said.
However, senior Advocate K.K. Venugopal, who was appearing
for the Tamil Nadu government, said that a fresh appointment
in place of Rao was imminent as the Union Home Minister
had telephonically told Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa
that a new appointment was being made to the post of Governor.
"There was no provision in the constitution for the transfer
of the Governor before completion of the five-year tenure,"
he said.
CPI(M)
national executive begins three-day moot (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: A three-day national executive meeting of the
Communist Party of India-Marxist began on Friday in New
Delhi. The national executive aims to finalise the agenda
for the party's 19th Congress to be held in Chandigarh from
March 29 to April 3. The meeting comes a day after Left
party leaders held a breakfast meeting with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh. During the three-day long meeting, the party
will review the performance of the Manmohan Singh government,
the functioning of the UPA-Left Coordination Committee,
FDI cap intelecom and insurance sectors, and disinvestment
of PSUs among other issues. "We are trying to get a report
on what has happened so far between the two committes. Then
we will have a draft report for the next party Congress.
That is also we are discussing. There are some little agendas,"
said Jyoti Basu,CPI-M leader and former West Bengal Chief
Minister The three-day meet which would end on October 31
would discuss the current political situation, implementation
of the CMP and the party's stand on various issues This
is the first meeting of its kind after the formation of
the UPA government on May 22 this year. The meeting was
also attended by CPI-M general secretary Harkishen Singh
Surjeet, CPI-M politburo members Sitaram Yechury and other
CPI-M leaders.
Indiaconsidering
Frnace's proposal to purchase submarine (Go
To Top)
Kolkata:
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that India
is considering a proposal from French Foreign Minister Michel
Barnier to purchase the Scorpene submarine for the Navy.
"The proposal was given by the visiting French Foreign Minister.
We are considering the proposal. But no final decision has
been taken," Mukherjee told reporters here. On Thursday,
Chief of Naval staff Admiral Arun Prakash had said that
the 1.5 billion dollar deal to acquire six French Scorpene
submarines was under very close examination at the highest
level of Government. "We have received assurance that the
deal will see the light of day soon," Prakash had said.
16
injured in Gujarat IOC refinery fire (Go
To Top)
Vadodara:
A fire broke out at the main plant of Gujarat refinery
of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) early this morning, injuring
16 persons who were present on the location. The fire was
brought under control by fire fighters of Gujarat refinery
and other companies located in the area as it required special
chemical to put out and control it. According to the city
Police Commissioner Sudhirkumar Sinha smoke was coming out
from this plant around 3.30 am and the district collector
and fire brigade were informed. The entire area was cordoned
off by CISF, and it was not known whether there was anybody
in the plant during the mishap, he said. The injured were
rushed to the hospital located in complex area. Meanwhile,
ruling out any possibility of sabotage, a company spokesperson
has said that the mishap took place in the fluid dyes catalytic
cracking unit of the refinery, which was shut down since
October 10 for regular maintenance and overhauling work.
"The mishap has not affected production of motor-spirit
and LPG and operations in other plants have been going on
normally. The plant is expected to be back on stream in
next two days," he said. Sinha has said that the main cause
behind the incident was still unknown, but they were investigating
into the matter.
