NEW DELHI: An influential Indian Muslim group on Thursday accused the country’s Hindu nationalist prime minister of triggering an “internal war” with plans to introduce a common civil code for all religions.
The Indian constitution currently allows the country’s 1.2 billion citizens to be governed by their own religious laws when it comes to marriage, divorce and property inheritance.
But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government wants bring in a common civil code that it says will enhance national unity.
On Thursday the All India Muslim Personal Law Board said they would block any attempt to abolish Islamic family laws, which many Muslim women say discriminate against them.
“You can’t impose a single ideology in India. Modi has triggered an internal war in India,” Maulana Wali Rahmani, head of AIMPLB, told reporters at a press conference in New Delhi.
“A uniform civil code is not good for India, which has many cultures and religions. It will divide India,” he said.
India’s Law Commission has sought public feedback on a common law that would ban controversial practices such as polygamy and triple talaq divorce, under which a Muslim man can divorce his wife instantly with just three words.
The commission said the objective was to “address discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonize various cultural practices.”
Muslim personal law has long been a controversial issue in India.
Some Indian Muslim women have in recent years launched legal challenges to triple talaq, which they say discriminates against them and violates their human rights.
A case in the mid-1980s involving Muslim woman Shah Bano, who took her rejected demand for alimony to the Supreme Court, triggered debate across India over whether the court had authority over Muslim personal law.
The court upheld her right to alimony, but its verdict was reversed by a law passed by the then-Congress party government after Muslim groups reacted angrily.
Any attempt since then to bring a common civil code has proved deeply divisive in the officially secular but mainly Hindu country.
Indian Muslims say Modi’s legal reforms divisive
Indian Muslims say Modi’s legal reforms divisive
Italy protests, recalls ambassador to Switzerland after New Year’s bar fire suspect released
- Meloni overnight called Moretti’s release “an affront to the memory of the victims”
- Six of those killed in the bar blaze were Italian as were 10 of the injured
ROME: Italy formally protested on Saturday the release on bail of the owner of a Swiss bar engulfed in a deadly New Year’s Day fire and recalled its ambassador to Switzerland, as the court’s decision came under criticism in both countries.
Jacques Moretti and his wife Jessica, owners of Le Constellation bar in Crans-Montana, are under investigation for negligent homicide and other crimes linked to the blaze that killed 40 people and injured more than 100, many of them teenagers.
Jacques Moretti was detained on January 9 but released on bail on Friday.
PM MELONI CALLS DECISION ‘AN INSULT’ TO VICTIMS’ FAMILIES
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni overnight called Moretti’s release “an affront to the memory of the victims ... and an insult to their families.”
Six of those killed in the bar blaze were Italian as were 10 of the injured.
A government statement on Saturday said Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani instructed Italy’s ambassador to immediately contact Beatrice Pilloud, the chief prosecutor in Switzerland’s Valais canton, to convey Italy’s “strong indignation” over Moretti’s release.
It added that the court had taken the decision despite the seriousness of the alleged crime, the risk of flight and the possibility of evidence being compromised.
“The whole of Italy is clamouring for truth and justice, and is calling for respectful measures to be taken in the wake of this disaster, which take full account of the suffering and expectations of the families,” the statement said.
Meloni and Tajani also ordered Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado to return to Rome to determine what further action to take, it said.
Swiss prosecutor Pilloud confirmed to Swiss news agency Keystone SDA that she had been contacted by the Italian ambassador but explained that a separate court had ordered Moretti’s release.
“I do not wish to be responsible for a diplomatic incident between our two countries. I will not give in to any possible pressure from the Italian authorities, which is why I advised the ambassador to address himself to the Swiss political authorities,” she said.
A Swiss Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
’ANOTHER SLAP’, TEEN VICTIM’S FATHER SAYS OF RELEASE
Moretti was released under a bail arrangement that included a 200,000 Swiss franc ($256,377) payment and an order to report daily to a police station.
Lawyers for the victims of the fire and their families said they were struggling to understand the court order, adding that their clients were concerned about evidence disappearing.
“It is another slap on a wound that will never heal,” Andrea Costanzo, whose 16-year-old daughter Chiara died in the fire, said in comments published in Italian newspapers on Saturday.
The Morettis have both expressed grief over the tragedy and said they would cooperate with prosecutors.
In a statement following Jacques Moretti’s release, their lawyers said they would “continue to comply with all requests from the authorities.”
