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Published : 04 May 2025, 01:59 PM
A legal challenge has been mounted at the High Court against several recommendations made by the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission.
In addition to seeking a stay order to prevent the implementation of those recommendations, a writ petition also asks the court to instruct the formation of an expert committee comprising constitutional experts, Islamic jurists and civil society representatives to review and advise on any future reforms related to religious and family laws.
The High Court bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Sikder Mahmudur Razi is likely to hold a hearing on the petition this week.
A lawyer named Rowshan Ali filed the plea with the relevant division of the High Court on Sunday.
The petitioner claims that the proposal to give equal inheritance to men and women in property in Chapter 11 of the reform commission’s report is “directly contrary to Surah Nisa of the Quran”.
The reform commission report also proposes a ban on polygamy. The petition states that polygamy is a provision “permitted in Islamic Sharia”. As a result, it says, the commission’s recommendation “violates the right to practice religion” under Article 41 of the Constitution.
The writ petition states, “By blindly supporting the slogan ‘My Body, My Choice’, an attempt has been made to cross the line of morality without basing it on Sharia law.”
“A proposal to recognise the professions of sex workers (sex work) as a legitimate profession has been made. Such a proposal is against Islamic values and Articles 2(a) and 26 of the Constitution.”
The language used in the report on gender identity and transgender people is “un-Sharia law and contrary to religious beliefs,” Rowshan says.
He says, “The various recommendations of the report are directly contrary to Islamic Sharia law, our Constitution and the values of the religious people of the country. This petition is not against any individual or group. It is a legal step taken to protect the country’s religious values, constitutional balance and social order.”
Religious parties have been opposing the Women's Affairs Reform Commission formed by the interim government since it submitted its report to the chief advisor on Apr 19.
Hifazat-e-Islam, one of the country's Islamist platforms, has demanded the scrapping of the report while Jamaat-e-Islami has “rejected” the report.
Hifazat's objections are mainly to the observations and recommendations made by the commission on Islamic inheritance law and Islamic family law.
Jamaat has called some of the recommendations “abhorrent” and said that these issues will push society towards “extreme instability”.
THE COMMISSION’S RECOMMENDATIONS
The important recommendations of the commission are:
• Instituting a uniform family law to ensure equal rights for women of all religions in cases of marriage, divorce, inheritance and maintenance.
• Ensure equal rights for women over their children by amending the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890.
• The next elected government should amend the family laws of different religions and ensure a 50-50 share of property for women by amending Muslim and other religious inheritance laws.
• Increase the number of parliamentary seats to 600, with 300 seats reserved for women with direct elections.
• Include forced sexual intercourse within a marriage as rape under the criminal law.
• Refrain from making unnecessary references to women in presentations and using misogynistic statements and images.
• Ensure the dignity and labour rights of sex workers by amending the labour law.
Hifazat - which had protested the government’s policy on women in 2013 - held a grand rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday to push for a four-point list of demands, including the abolition of the Women's Affairs Reform Commission.
The organisation's Joint Secretary General Mamunul Haque said, "Standing on the soil of Bengal, we want to say that in the name of women's reform, Allah's Quran and Islam have been mocked. The Women's Affairs Commission has hurt the religious sentiments of the majority of the people in this country."
Participating in the rally, Amar Desh Editor Mahmudur Rahman said, "Hifazat-e-Islam has raised questions about feminism. I want to ask the government of Dr Yunus - why are you creating unnecessary issues? I want to say that no one gave their lives in the July Uprising to create the women's commission."
Hifazat's rally ended with the announcement of a nationwide protest programme on Friday, May 23 after the afternoon prayers to push for their demands.
