THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 20 FEBRUARY 2019 (Ruse of Gender Justice (The Indian Express)

Ruse of Gender Justice (The Indian Express)

Mains Paper 5: Society
Prelims level: Gender Justice
Mains level: Role of women and women's organization, population and associated issues, poverty and
developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

Context

•  All government policies must be judged keeping two things in mind.
•  The circumstances at the time of introducing a legislation and the actual impact of a law.

Background

•  The Supreme Court’s judgment of 1985 that allowed Shah Bano to claim maintenance under the Code of Criminal Procedure was applauded as a progressive judgment.
•  But the Muslim Women (Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 that was drafted by the Rajiv Gandhi government came under severe attack at the time.
•  Act to appease the conservative Muslim and against the empowerment of Muslim women.
•  In 1986 Act says Section 3 says that she will be entitled to a fair and reasonable amount for maintenance.
•  Property she receives from her relatives and the relatives of her husband.
•  If her husband fails to pay her, she can claim her maintenance from the people who stand to inherit from her, if they fail, she can claim maintenance from her family and if they fail as well, she can claim maintenance from the state’s wakf board.
•  The most empowering provision is that she must be paid within the iddat period three months.
•  Challenged the 1986 Act in the SC as unconstitutional.
•  The 2001 verdict get her settlement for her entire life as a lump sum within the iddat period.
•  Courts have been flooded with appeals by husbands challenging orders of maintenance under the Act.
•  Compare the Rs 179 received by Shah Bano to the women who got lakhs under the 1986 Act.
•  In 2017, the SC deemed instant triple talaq to be void in the Shayara Bano case.
•  The government’s ordinance is to criminalises it.

Way forward

•  The government could have levied a fine for practising instant triple talaq.
•  There is no law that can force a married couple to stay married, all that lawmakers can do is codify the rights and liabilities of the parties on separation.
•  The ordinance keeps the couple married and gives the woman nothing but a right to prosecute her husband.
•  In comparison to the fair and reasonable amount sanctioned by the 1986 Act, the triple talaq bill said she must be given a subsistence allowance the ordinance does not define this.
•  The Act of 1986 struck a balance between the rights of a community and of its women.

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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Consider the following statements on Methanol:
1. Methanol is a liquid chemical which is colorless, volatile, flammable, and poisonous.
2. Methanol is frequently called wood alcohol because it was once produced primarily as a byproduct of the destructive distillation of wood.
3. Its principal uses are in organic synthesis, as a fuel, solvent, and antifreeze.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3 only

Answer: D

Mains Questions:
Q.1) Triple talaq legislation does not have anything to do with women’s empowerment. Critically examine the statement.