DHAKA: The word “virgin” must be removed from Muslim marriage certificates in Bangladesh, the country’s top court has said, a landmark verdict after campaigners challenged the “humiliating and discriminatory” term.
Under the South Asian country’s Muslim marriage laws, a bride has to select one of three options on the certificate — whether she is a Kumari (virgin), a widow or divorced.
In a brief verdict on Sunday, the court ordered the government to remove the term and replace it with “unmarried,” deputy attorney general Amit Talukder told AFP.
The court is expected to publish its full verdict by October, with the changes to the certificate expected to come into effect then.
“It is a landmark verdict,” Aynun Nahar Siddiqua, a lawyer for the groups which filed the case challenging the term in 2014, told AFP on Monday.
Rights groups have long criticized the term — used in certificates since they were introduced in 1961 — saying it is “humiliating and discriminatory,” and that it breaches the privacy of the woman getting married.
The judgment also ordered authorities to introduce the options “unmarried, widower or divorced” for the groom on the certificate.
Bangladesh is the world’s third-largest Muslim majority nation and nearly 90 percent of its 168 million population are Muslims.
Bangladesh court orders ‘virgin’ removed from marriage cert
Bangladesh court orders ‘virgin’ removed from marriage cert
- Bangladesh is the world’s third-largest Muslim majority nation and nearly 90 percent of its 168 million population are Muslims
Julio Iglesias calls sexual abuse allegations against him ‘absolutely untrue’
- “I deny having abused, coerced or disrespected any woman. These accusations are absolutely false and cause me great sadness,” Iglesias said
- A Spanish high court received formal allegations against Iglesias on Jan. 5, officials said
MADRID: Grammy-winning singer Julio Iglesias on Friday denied allegations that he sexually assaulted two former employees, calling the accusations “absolutely untrue.”
Media reports from earlier this week alleged Iglesias had sexually and physically assaulted two women who worked at his residences in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas between January and October 2021. A day later, Spanish prosecutors said they were studying the allegations.
“With deep sorrow, I respond to the accusations made by two people who previously worked at my home. I deny having abused, coerced or disrespected any woman. These accusations are absolutely false and cause me great sadness,” Iglesias said on Instagram.
Spanish news outlet elDiario.es and US television network Univision Noticias published the joint, three-year investigation on Jan. 13 into Iglesias’ alleged misconduct.
A Spanish high court received formal allegations against Iglesias on Jan. 5, officials said. Iglesias could potentially be taken in front of the Madrid-based court, which can try alleged crimes by Spanish citizens while they are abroad, according to its press office.
A rights group representing the two women said they were accusing Iglesias of “crimes against sexual freedom and indemnity such as sexual harassment” and of “human trafficking for the purpose of forced labor and servitude.” Women’s Link Worldwide said the two women had presented the complaint to the Spanish court.
The 82-year-old is one of the world’s most successful musical artists, having sold more than 300 million records in more than a dozen languages. After making his start in Spain, Iglesias won immense popularity in the US and wider world in the 1970s and 1980s. He is the father of pop singer Enrique Iglesias.
In 1988, he won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance for his album “Un Hombre Solo.” He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in 2019.
“I had never experienced such malice, but I still have the strength for people to know the full truth and to defend my dignity against such a serious affront,” Iglesias wrote on social media.
He thanked those who had sent messages of support.
