Struggle against triple talaq began 51 yrs ago
PUNE: For the members of Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal, Tuesday’s triple talaq judgement by the Supreme Court has come as a major victory.
It was a handful of people who later became part of Satyashodhak Mandal, held first ever historic march in India against triple talaq and polygamy some 51 years ago on April 18, 1966 that led to the beginning of the movement.
The march was led by Muslim progressive thinker Hamid Dalwai and saw participation of seven women, including his wife Mehrunissa Dalwai, who passed away in Pune at the age of 86 on June 9, 2017.
In an interview given earlier, Mehrunissa, who was just 35 years old and was pregnant when the march was held, said, “It was difficult during those days to stand up for the rights of women. Yet some of us went to meet the then chief minister Vasantrao Naik and handed him a memorandum of demands.” Among the demands listed by the protesters, included abolishing triple talaq and polygamy and implementation of Uniform Civic Code (UCC).
While the march per se did not face any resistance in the absence of any media coverage, the participants, however, started getting life threats once the news spread out, said Mehrunissa.
The march, which concluded at Mantralaya in the state capital Mumbai, was hailed as the first major voice in the world against the “regressive” practices in Islam, said Professor Shamshuddin Tamboli, president, Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal.
Hailing the verdict given by the apex court, Tamboli said that half the battle has been won. “We have to now win the rest of the war. Our fight for implementation of Uniform Civil Code will now gather momentum.”
The Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal has decided to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the coming days to urge him for the implementation of UCC, said Tamboli. “To gather support for UCC we have carried out signature campaign. More than 5,000 people have participated in the signature campaign.”