Noorbina Rasheed should step down immediately as the member of the State Women’s Commission or the government should ask her to step down, as she has openly taken a stand approving the decision of Muslim organisations to approach the Supreme Court regarding the lowering of the marriage age of Muslim girls, T.N. Seema, MP, has said.
As one supporting attempts by the Muslim community to legalise child marriage, Ms. Rasheed had lost all moral right to remain as the member of a body constituted by the government to ensure social justice and equality to women, Ms. Seema said in a statement here on Friday.
Ms. Rasheed had not only justified the stance of Muslim organisations on the issue of the marriageable age of Muslim girls, she had also openly defended the ‘right’ of Muslim men to have four wives, the MP said. The Child Marriage Prohibition Act passed by the Parliament in 2006 was applicable to all Indian citizens, Ms. Seema added.
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Ms. Rasheed’s defence of a group of persons, who were trying to stall the educational and social progress of women under the guise of upholding Personal Law, could in no way be accepted. A person who held such ‘conservative, anti-women stance’ should not be allowed to be at the helm of a body which was expected to fight against social evils like child marriage, Ms. Seema said.