Delhi government's long pending Delhi Registration of Marriage Bill ran into trouble on Monday with some MLAs raising questions on its implications on the Muslim community.  Objecting to the Bill being passed in the Assembly, Lok Janshakti Party MLA Shoaib Iqbal said that women can misuse the Bill to deny being divorced. They can also misuse it to get a claim in their husbands' property or to harass them after the...

Punitive measures against girls forced into child marriages should not find a place in government policies, programmes and practices Child brides are not criminals. They cannot be compared to children accused of committing crimes. Anyone who hears a story of a girl forced into marriage before she turned 18 will tell you that she had little choice in the matter. In fact, under Indian law, children convicted as juveniles cannot be...

-The Times of India Under pressure from political parties and women's organizations, the government on Monday deferred passage of the bill that seeks to include "irretrievable breakdown of marriage'' among the reasons for divorce, along with other provisions, which the BJP has opposed on the ground that it could prove detrimental to women in the Indian social context. Law minister Salman Khurshid told Rajya Sabha said most of the concerns raised on...

Muslim women may finally get their due share in family inheritance. The long standing demand of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board for a suitable amendment in the UP Zamindari Abolition and Land Reform Act 1950 to bring it at par with the Shariat is likely to get an official nod soon. After AIMPLB reasserted its stance last month, the state government is considering the option to push through...

-Express News Service Bowing to pressure from opposition parties and women’s rights organisations, the union cabinet today cleared some more amendments to the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill to give women a clearly-defined share in their husband’s “immovable residential property” — including that acquired before marriage — in divorce cases. If passed, the amended Bill would allow “equal share of residential property” to the wife and children. The wife’s share will be decided...