Marriage registration for Hindu women stressed

Former adviser to a caretaker government Sultana Kamal speaks at a seminar at Cirdap auditorium in the city yesterday. On her left are Ayesha Khanam, Shaheen Anam, Angela Gomez and Shahnaz Huda.Photo: STAR

Speakers at a seminar yesterday underscored the need for introducing marriage registration for Hindu women and establishing their right to divorce to save them from the sufferings of polygamy and denial of marriage on the husbands' part.
Manusher Jonno Foundation and Bachte Shekha jointly organised the seminar moderated by Shaheen Anam, executive director, Manusher Jonno Foundation.
Women at the grassroots level in Narail, Gazipur and Jessore shared how they have been deprived of their rights at the seminar at Cirdap auditorium in the city.
In her paper on Hindu Marriage Act, Shahnaz Huda, professor, Department of Law, Dhaka University, said that according to the Shastra marriage is a sacrament or religious duty and it continues even after death.
She said that the community continues to follow Anglo-Hindu laws and there was no legislative development after 1947 regarding Hindu Family Laws in Bangladesh while India introduced major reforms in 1950s.
In the absence of marriage registration the women are devoid of the right to prove the marriage or divorce the husband.
“A Hindu man can abandon his wife and remarry several times but his wives cannot divorce him and so cannot remarry,” she said.
“In the absence of a document sometimes it is difficult to prove the marriage. In this case if the husband disowns the wife she cannot demand alimony,” said Huda.
The speakers said that there are cases when the husband flatly denied the marriage and got married again. They said there is no alternative to being united to solve the matter.
“In the Dhakeshwari Temple the priest keeps a document of the marriage he conducts. This practice is done for the women. Then why can't we introduce marriage registration?” Binoy Kusholi, a rights activist, posed a question.
She said that there is a lack of women representation among the community leaders.
“We will have to change this mentality that husband's place is the only place for women because due to this mentality women are staying with their husbands even if they are deprived of their rights,” said former adviser Sultana Kamal, also the executive director of Ain O Salish Kendra.
They also discussed the rights of a Hindu woman on her father's properties.
The speakers said that Hindu women are denied property laws because they have a fear that Muslim men will marry them to grab their properties.
Manik Bhattacharya, a priest from Narail, Angela Gomez, executive director, Bachte Shekha, and Ayesha Khanam, president, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, were also present.