Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Proposed Amendments to Marriage Laws do not Guarantee Full Women Rights


by Flavia Agnes

Columnist Flavia Agnes presents a deep study of marriage laws proposed in the parliament for amendment. She says it does not consider the rights of women in it. She writes:
The proposed amendments to marriage laws lack the detail to guarantee women their full due
The questions foremost in the minds of activists are — how will the provisions for quick divorces affect rural women for whom marriage symbolises social status and divorce spells doom and destitution? Also, what will be the guidelines for distributing property, when the concept is new and hitherto unknown to Indian family law jurisprudence? Will the inherent gender biases that predominate court
proceedings overshadow fair distribution? More importantly, if a husband, prior to filing the divorce petition transfers his property to his relatives or squanders away his wealth, what will be left for fair distribution at the time of divorce? Such trends are being adopted to defeat women’s claims to meagre maintenance. Will the new amendment provide further boost to such tendencies?
According to Flavia Agnes women rights have not been fully taken into consideration in the proposed marriage law.

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