Photo for illustrative purposes only.A Muslim woman prays after having her Iftar (breaking of fast) meal during the holy month of Ramadan inside the shrine of Muslim Sufi Saint Nizamuddin Auliya in New Delhi, India June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Mumbai-based Yasmin Ali Shaikh believes that marginalised Muslim women can take advantage of the best of both judicial worlds.
The worlds second largest Muslim population is going through one of its most volatile phases in recent times as the constitutional or legal validity of many of the traditional practices of the community are being fiercely debated or challenged in the courts.
Indias 172 million Muslims are constitutionally permitted to follow the Muslim Personal Law, some of whose provisions are being perceived as regressive or out-dated by many, and are seen to be in confrontation with the countrys civil law. In this climate, one lawyer, Yasmin Ali Shaikh, is trying to make the best use of both and works as a bridge between the two to seek justice for thousands of marginalised Muslim women.
Yasmin Ali Shaikh has around three decades of experience as a lawyer and has so far handled close to 25,000 cases. She is also in charge of Mahila Takrar Nivaran Kendra (MTNK), a Complaint Centre for Women set up by Mumbai Police in the Muslim-dominated Nagpada area.
In Indias biggest city, hundreds of women flock every day to Shaikhs private offices near the Bombay High Court, or to a tiny womens cell at MTNK, to seek justice for various family and matrimonial matters including triple talaq (instant divorce), maintenance, dowry and polygamy.
Shaikh often finds herself in a situation when she has to take the help of civil law to protect the interests of her Muslim clients. For example, she says, a man gives talaq to his wife orally but refuses to give it in writing out of sheer malice. Though talaq is valid as per tradition, she elaborates, the womans family finds it difficult to find another husband for her.
