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The Bombay High Court's ruling on the entry of women into Haji Ali Dargah has reinforced the status of equality of women in religion.
The Bombay High Court’s ruling on the entry of women into Haji Ali Dargah reinforces the need for equality of women in religion.
The Bombay High Court recently passed a judgment allowing women to enter the sanctum of the Haji Ali Dargah. According to a division bench of Justice V M Kanade and Justice Revati Mohite-Dere, the ban imposed by the Haji Ali Dargah Trust was in violation of Articles 14 (equality before law within India), 15 (prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, caste, sex), 19 (1)(d) (to move freely throughout the territory of India) and 25 (freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion) of the Indian Constitution. The trust sought to appeal against this decision, and the bench granted a stay on their order for six weeks.
Some background for the uninitiated: the case that brought this to fore was a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Noor Jahan of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, about two years ago. According to the PIL, women have been visitors of the Dargah since their childhood, and were restricted all of a sudden by the trust in June 2012.
According to the trustees, the defence claim was that the entry of women in a space that was close to the grave of a male Muslim saint was a grievous sin in Islam. They argued that this decision was taken in the interest of women, and that they were allowed as close as possible to the inner sanctorum.
Zooming out, this case shines light on the rampancy of gender inequality, constantly perpetuated by rigid cultural interpretations of religion. Oftentimes, this tends to dovetail into the question of a woman’s sovereignty over her mind, body and choices. Religion inherently does not restrain a woman, but has, in its interpretation, often interfered with a woman’s choices, her right over her mind and body and her conduct in society.
In prohibiting women from entering the Dargah, the trust has not upheld any tenet of religion inasmuch as it has used religion to perpetuate gender inequality. The patriarchal perception of religion, and the perpetuation of toxic hegemonic masculinity by reading misogyny into a religion suggests that there is an imminent need for women to take back the religious space, and to feminise the rhetoric.
From that standpoint, the drive for equality having motivated a public interest litigation to require the judiciary’s interference in a religious establishment automatically gains validity and legitimacy. A social set up that pivots around the notions of equality and the rule of law requires that all genders be equal partakers of the social order, have access to all areas of life and livelihood without restraint on the grounds of Gender, as per Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
In upholding these values in the Constitution, the Bombay High Court has restored a skewed and patriarchal perspective that interpreted religion, to a balance of equal status.
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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