In a couple of petitions filed before the Kerala High Court, a uniform dress code was prescribed for the All India Pre-Medical Entrance to ensure that no unfair methods are used. The court went ahead to state that the students must abide by the rule as the collective right of an institution is far greater than the individual right.In any case, an atmosphere is being created to showcase that the rights of Muslim woman are under threat. However, most individuals from the community (especially women) are aware that this is not the case.Instead, the expansion and widening of rights of Muslim women that has happened in the last half a decade has never happened in the history of Independent India. After the Triple Talaq judgment of the Supreme Court, Muslim women who had approached the court to outlaw the cruel practice expressed happiness for those women who had suffered due to no fault of their own.Hailed as a historic judgment, it gave a new lease of life to women who were divorced in this manner. In fact, the top court went a step further to state that the government must ratify a new law that guarantees equal rights for women in an Islamic marriage. With the new law, all propaganda stating that personal laws of Muslims would be interfered was put to rest and a fair law guaranteeing an equal process was put in place. Adding to that is the recent law that increased the marriageable age for women from 18 to 21 years, which was a big cause of happiness for different generations of Muslim women that were interviewed.Ensuring a higher minimum age would ensure that girls get a better chance to move forward in society and studies instead of being thrust into a marriage and childbearing responsibilities at a young age.Overall, it seems fair to state that the hype surrounding the dress code and hijab ban is one that has been propped up by those with vested interests. As equal and rightful partners in the Indian society, the Muslim women and girls are aware that this is yet another attempt by patriarchs to ensure that talented Muslim girls are not given the opportunity to achieve lofty aspirations and goals.However, a democratic society that has been founded on ideals of equality and fraternity also ensures that Muslims in India are well-integrated, happy, satisfied and daring to go and achieve even more.
--IANS arm/
(Disclaimer: This post has been auto published from IANS news agency without any modification to the text and has not been reviewed by editor)
