Time has come for reforms in Muslim personal laws: Sushil Kumar Modi
Mumbai (PTI): BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday stressed that the time has come for reforms in Muslim personal laws to ensure gender neutrality.
During a discussion on the topic of "Uniform Civil Code (UCC): Majoritarian Agenda or Much-needed Reform?" at the India Today Conclave here, he cited the practices of polygamy and "triple talaq" and said there is a need for gender neutrality in laws.
"The time has now come for bringing in reforms in the existing Muslim personal laws," Modi, a former deputy chief minister of Bihar, said.
Besides Modi, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi and women's right activist and lawyer Flavia Agnes participated in the discussion.
"What kind of law requires a divorced woman, who intends to get married to her first husband again, to first marry and get 'triple talaq' from another man to fulfil her wish?" the BJP leader asked.
Owaisi defended the personal laws and said, "The second wife of a Muslim man is entitled to maintenance and a separate house to live."
"She gets maintenance rights, a separate house to live in, and is called a wife. Whereas if a Hindu man marries a second wife, she is not even called a wife," he said.
Around 80 per cent of child marriages happened in Hindu communities, Owaisi further claimed.
Flavia Agnes spoke about the need to bring in gender justice in all laws.
On the Uniform Civil Code, BJP MP Modi said its first draft "can be expected sooner than later". "When the Hindu Code Bill was introduced in 1955, the Hindus vehemently opposed it. At the time, polygamy was more prominent among Hindus than Muslims," he said.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
