Re: Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Bill submitted in Parliament
Some salient features of the bill.
The new bill criminalises customs such as vanni and swara, in which young girls are given away in marriage to settle murder feuds. It prescribes a maximum of three years’ imprisonment for offenders in these cases.
In addition, the bill prescribes up to seven years in jail for those who deprive a woman of her right to property.
It further seeks to punish the practice of marrying women to the Koran with up to three years in jail.
Koran marriages are aimed at preventing a woman from contracting a normal marriage and bearing children who could then claim her share in ancestral property.
The bill proposes that husbands who bring charges of infidelity against their wives under Islamic law but fail in their cases could face charges of slander. In such cases, the wife would be given the power to initiate divorce proceedings.