Mumbai: Representatives of six groups, fighting for the rights of Muslim women, on Thursday condemned the policies of the Narendra Modi government against minorities. They were addressing a press conference to debate the rights of Muslim women beyond triple talaq .
With the Shayara Bano petition calling for a ban on triple talaq , polygamy and halala, pending in the Supreme Court, Bebak Collective member Hasina Khan said even if triple talaq is abolished, the fight for equal rights of Muslim women across the country will go on. “What we demand today are the rights guaranteed to us in the Constitution. We are not asking for what the Quran or any other books states; we want what the Constitution says.”
Launching an attack on the Prime Minister, she condemned his decision to speak out on the triple talaq . “Prime Minister Modi is not a messiah of women just because he wants to abolish triple talaq . Ever since the BJP came into power, there have been injustices being committed against our community,” she said, adding, “If he wants to be our messiah then he needs to go to all the places where injustices are happening and ask why nothing is being done to the attackers.”
Aawaaz-e-Niswaan member Kausar Ansali said, “Through triple talaq , women are divorced, but they cannot claim their property. When they move to their husbands’ house they do so with all their belongings, but when they are told to leave, all they have are the clothes they are wearing.”
