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Mumbai: ‘Tears flow at emotional Muslim women meet’
Updated On: 18 January, 2023 07:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Hemal Ashar
Women pushed into child marriage break down as they recount ordeal; demand Prohibition of Child Marriage Act be made unambiguously available to the Muslim community
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(Left to right) Noorjehan Niaz, Khatoon Shaikh and Feroze Mithiborwala at the conference yesterday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Tears flowed as women broke down, recounting their ordeal when they were married off as young as 14, 15 or 16 years at an emotional press conference, by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) at the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, Azad Maidan on Tuesday evening.
The conference began with the BMMA’s Noorjehan Safia Niaz, Khatoon Shaikh and Bharat Bachao Andolan’s Feroze Mithiborwala stating, "The Supreme Court of India has agreed to entertain a sensitive socio-religious issue related to the sanctification of the marriage of a minor girl on her attaining puberty by Muslim personal law. It has also annulled the Punjab and Haryana High Court that validated the marriage of a 15-year-old Muslim girl. The contradictory judgments of various courts on child marriage with regard to the Muslim community emerged because the law related to child marriage is ambiguous about its application to the Muslim community. A judgment, whether of high courts or the Supreme Court can never be a substitute for law. We demand that all laws related to child marriage, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006 or the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act must be made unambiguously and explicitly be applicable to the Muslim community so that Muslim women and girls are able to take advantage of the law of the land.”
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