This refers to the article, “Constitution shields Muslims from mullahs” (September 12) by Balbir Punj. At the time of partition, when a number of Indian Muslims, led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah with his two-nation theory, left India to form Pakistan, one had hoped that communal hatred and poison would be buried once and for all. It was expected that the Constitution of India, promulgated with the founding of a democratic republic in 1950, would be the sole law governing the country. Unfortunately, Muslim bigots running the All India Muslim Personal law Board, had a Sharia’h law as their guiding framework. It comprised regressive provisions such as triple-talaq, polygamy, lack of maintenance for divorced Muslim women, etc.
Since some of these provisions are now being examined by the Supreme Court, one hopes and prays that the apex court will assert itself and pronounce the Sharia'h as null and void. A secular democracy cannot have parallel laws, one for Indian Muslims and another for the rest.