Family law reforms: Change adultery law, fix marriage age for both boys, girls at 18 yrs, says govt panel
Taking note of the spate of “honour killings”, the panel has asked for a standalone law to deal with the issue, make police and legal protection mandatory for such couples and ensure punishment for those involved in khap decision.
Picture for representational purpose.
Amending the outdated adultery law “based on the presumption of wife being the property of the husband”, introducing a separate legislation for dealing with “honour killings” and removing the gender discrimination inherent in laws that stipulate a lower legal age of marriage for a girl — these are some of the family law reforms suggested by the government-appointed high-level panel.
The report of the committee, which has also asked for a ban on triple talaq and polygamy, will be placed before the Supreme Court which is hearing a petition filed by an Uttarakhand-based Muslim woman appealing against her triple talaq.
The year-old report reviewing the status of women in India, which was never made public, also suggests a slew of other reforms.
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In its review of women and family laws with respect to marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance and succession, the 14-member panel has suggested reforms to undo the implicit gender biases in the personal laws for Hindus, Muslims and Christians as also in other legislation on the issue.
The panel cites the recommendations of the 18th law commission to make a case for recognising 18 years as the age of marriage for both sexes. The Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act mandate a lower age for girls at 18 years, as against 21 years for boys which the panel has found to be discriminatory.
It calls for an overhaul of the “archaic” Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code on adultery which can be only used by the husband against the person who has sexual relations with his wife. The panel has also called for definition of the term “cruelty” as it cannot be “completely left to the interpretation of the courts”.
Personal laws for Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Parsis as well as the Special Marriages Act recognise cruelty as a ground for divorce.
The panel holds that the absence of a clear definition in any of these laws creates scope for construing patriarchal notions of wife’s behaviour as cruelty.
“The recommendations of the high-level committee involve wide-ranging changes across personal laws. A decision on it can only be taken after holding nationwide consultations of all stakeholders,” said a senior official from the woman and child development ministry.
The report upholds the right to maintenance for Muslim women in their personal law as well as for women in live-in relationships and unmarried dependent daughters.
It states that the word “maintenance” should be substituted with a more rights-based term like “monetary entitlement”, deletion of the term “illegitimate” child in existing legislation, and discontinuing use of words like “mistresses”, “concubines” or “keeps” in court judgments.
Also proposes standalone law to deal with ‘honour killings’
Taking note of the spate of “honour killings”, the panel has asked for a standalone law to deal with the issue, make police and legal protection mandatory for such couples and ensure punishment for those involved in khap decisions that lead to such killings. Moreover, it has said that the current practice of putting up 30-day public notices under the Special Marriages Act should be done away with as it could put young couples marrying against their parents’ approval at risk.
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