Muslim Women and Politics of Personal Laws in India: Are Laws for Justice?

Abstract

In our society, laws have always been considered as agents of social change, especially for women. . However, women’s access to laws to get justice has been subjected to several factors. Especially Muslim women’s access to justice has always been determined by their minority community identity, class location and religion. In India, personal laws govern Muslim women and its interpretations by several agents (community as well as religious) seem to be discriminatory to Muslim women. The role of the state has remained obscure. Therefore, the paper will attempt to assess the role of personal laws as well as Indian state in either constraining or enabling Muslim women to exercise their rights. Therefore, the paper will try to review the role of the state as well as laws to facilitate gender justice in our society.