Your
Advocate
This
week your advocate is M. Moazzam Husain of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.
His professional interests include civil law, criminal law and constitutional
law.
Q
: I am 24 year old Muslim woman. I'm in love with a 26-year-old
Hindu man. Under which act I can go for marriage and as a Muslim can
I claim dower money or anything under our Mohammedan law?
Rubana, Dhanmondi, Dhaka
Your
Advocate: You can have some idea about the problems and incidents
of inter-religious marriages you have indicated if you revert back to
my answers given to similar queries published on the 21st and 28th December
last. With the change of time questions of inter-religious marriages
and their attendant consequences are coming to the fore. This is really
unavoidable and therefore, some streamlining of law is required so as
to cover this emerging area of problem. In the prevailing position of
law a Muslim woman cannot contract a valid marriage with an idolater,
such as a Hindu. So you cannot marry the man you love maintaining your
faith nor he can marry you maintaining his faith. There is a stalemate
in the transaction if you call yourself a Muslim and the gentleman calls
him a Hindu. The only way out for you is both of you have to renounce
your respective faith and declare that neither of you professes any
religion. Once you secularize yourself by renouncing your faith your
marriage comes within the ambit of the Special Marriage Act, 1872. And
you can conveniently get married as per the provisions of that law.
Since in the event you cease to be a Muslim naturally you cannot claim
any dower as per Muslim law.
Q:
I'm a Hindu, married a Muslim woman for the past five years in a Mandir.
We have three-year-old daughter. My in-laws now want me to convert to
Islam. But I don't want to do so. Is it not possible to live together
and fallow our own religions? And, if my wife continues to be a Muslim,
can my daughter still be a Hindu? Can my in-laws take away my child,
legally, if I don't convert? Who will be the guardian of the daughter?
Devashish Roy, Dinajpur.
Your
Advocate: You as a Hindu cannot validly marry a Muslim woman,
therefore, question of Mandir or Masjid does not arise. This kind of
inter-religious marriage is not permissible in Hinduism or Islam either.
So it is not legally possible for you both to continue with your respective
faith and be recognized as husband and wife. You would be faced with
many complications. Birth of a child has further complicated the situation.
Your daughter comes out to be neither a Hindu nor a Muslim. The question
of legitimacy of your daughter also is there. Under your personal laws
you cannot legitimize her. Therefore, your in-laws cannot legally take
away the child. Minor girl legitimate or illegitimate there must be
a guardian to look after her. In this peculiar circumstances mother
is the guardian of the minor daughter.
Corresponding
Law Desk
Please send your mails, queries, and opinions to: Law Desk,
The Daily Star 19 Karwan Bazar, Dhaka-1215;
telephone 8124944, 8124955, 8124966; fax 8125155, 8126154; email <dslawdesk@yahoo.co.uk>
