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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Triple talaq lesson from Algeria -Rasheed Kidwai

Triple talaq lesson from Algeria -Rasheed Kidwai

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published Published on Oct 21, 2016   modified Modified on Oct 21, 2016
-The Telegraph

Algiers (Algeria): At a time when a debate over triple talaq and the need for a uniform civil code rages in India, a Sunni Muslim-dominated country that Vice-President Hamid Ansari just visited offers some interesting insight.

Algeria, the north African country that figures in the Modi regime's Africa outreach, last year adopted a law criminalising domestic violence against women despite conservative Muslims terming it an intrusion into a couple's privacy.

The European Union hailed the 2015 law as a "major advance" in promotion of women's rights. In its yearly report on human rights and democracy, the EU said: "The adoption of this law constitutes a major advance in terms of gender equality after several months of stormy debates in Parliament."

Algeria allows divorce only through courts of law where attempts are first made for a reconciliation. Divorce is granted only after proper investigation and by following procedure. That is to say, instant divorce by uttering talaq thrice is not permitted.

Zehra Taulat, a 21-year-old interpreter, said all divorce cases had to go through court proceedings. "It is not easy to divorce instantly," Zehra told The Telegraph.

In Algeria, women make up 65 per cent of college graduates, over one third of judges and half of the teaching, health and public administration sector. But few participate in political decision-making.

At the ground level, there are organisations working to ensure that women get a better deal both socially and politically. Amusnaw, an NGO working for gender equality, has started a project to develop a marriage contract that would empower women to set conditions - such as the right to work or continue studies - before the wedding is finalised.

The NGO is also believed to be trying to persuade the state to use it as a standard marriage contract.

In India, too, some Muslim sects are trying to empower women with little-known provisions offered in Islam. One such provision allows women to divorce her husband if he is a drunkard, of immoral character, unwell or unable to lead a normal married life.

According to the Talaq-e-Tafweez, if a marriage contract has a pre-nuptial clause by which a husband authorises his wife to pronounce talaq, the woman can divorce herself from him under certain specified conditions (such as the husband taking a second wife).

Recent changes in Algerian law also safeguard the financial interests of married women. Any husband injuring his wife can be punished by up to 20 years in prison, depending on the extent of injury. Any husband acting to "dispose of the assets or financial resources" of his wife can be jailed for up to two years. The law was adopted after a vote attended by more than half of Algeria's 462 MPs.

There are contrarian views, too. Independent MP Ahmed Kheli is of the opinion that the law will undermine marriage as an institution and encourage men to have lovers. Naamane Belaouar, representing the Alliance for a Green Algeria, claims the laws is "contrary to Quranic precepts and aims to break up the family".

Women were involved in Algeria's anti-colonial struggle from 1957-1959. In 1956, they participated in a series of guerrilla attacks. The campaign was popularised by Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 film, The Battle for Algiers.

Mounia Meslem, the minister of national solidarity, family and women's affairs, said Algeria's "pioneer" status in the protection and promotion of women's rights had earned the country a "first place" in the Arab world.

Quoting a UN report, she claimed Algeria was in the first place at the Arab level, ninth at the African level and 29th in the world in promotion of women's rights in the last 20 years.Vice-President Ansari has declined comment on the triple talaq and uniform civil code row in India. His spokesperson said the visit was aimed at boosting bilateral ties and laying the platform for a strategic partnership.

The focus on strengthening India-Algeria relations is part of the Modi government's Africa outreach, especially in the Sahara and Sahel regions dominated by Francophone African nations, he said.

The Telegraph, 20 October, 2016, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1161021/jsp/nation/story_114714.jsp#.WAl4H_T3_N5


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