Press Council of India chairperson Markandey Katju said on Tuesday that he favoured a uniform civil law, arguing that the Muslim personal law was “unjust” as it treated women as “inferior” to men.
“Muslim personal law is an unjust law… it is … an outdated law because it treats women as inferior. Oral talaq is permitted only to men.” He claimed that even Hindu law was similarly feudal in nature, but changes were made to it after “tremendous efforts” by Jawaharlal Nehru. There was a time when a Hindu man could marry as many women as he liked and property was inherited only by the son, he said.
According to Mr. Katju, in an age of equality, the same law should be applicable to both men and women. “If a Muslim woman wants divorce, she has to approach a court. But a husband can get it by merely saying ‘talaq’ thrice. Every modern country has one single law for everybody.” It was different here because vote banks were needed. Mr. Katju was speaking at an interaction organised by Indian Women’s Press Corps . On corruption, he said the situation had changed since the time he joined the judiciary.
