A day after the Delhi High Court ruled that Muslim girls can marry without their parents' consent after attaining puberty, the women's rights group in the community said that an age of 18 needed to be fixed for marriage and repeated the demand for the codification of Muslim Personal Law.
"The High Court order raises a question about what we understand by puberty. Achieving puberty at the time of marriage is a very limited and problematic way of looking at the issue. Marriage is a contract between two individuals. The individuals have to be mature like adults. A girl may attain puberty at the age of 12 or 14. Does that mean she should be married at that age? "questioned Zakia Soman, founder of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), which fights for women's rights.
The Muslim Personal Law finds its basis in the Shariat Application Act of 1937. "There is no age limit. In the Hanafi school of thought, a person can marry at the age of puberty without consent from parents, while in some other schools of thought, consent from parents is required. I will have to see the details, but the courts should not interfere in personal law matters, "said Maulana Mehmood Dariyabadi, member of the All India Ulema Council.
Prominent women Muslim scholars felt the other way. "The Quran goes to say that in the case of inheritance, the girl has to be mature. "How do they expect a person to understand what they are getting into if they are not mature?" said Zeenat Shaukat Ali, professor of Islamic Studies.
"The question is whether a person is mature enough to give consent. "If it is not viable for other religions, how is it for Muslims?" said advocate Shireen Merchant, a family practitioner dealing with personal law matters.
Soman said that the purpose of female life cannot be just to marry and procreate. Soman said, "She needs education and economic development to attain her goals. We are at 18 years of age as a uniform age for marriage. We arrived at that age after a lot of deliberations by legal experts, too. In the case of (instant) Triple Talaq, the understanding of Talaq was spread by conservatives. It was not a Quranic method. When women started fighting, people were made aware. "
Dariyabadi said Muslim Personal Law has codified issues that have been put before the court.
