LUCKNOW: Two senior members of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) have endorsed the fatwa issued by the Darul-Uloom Deoband declaring a young housewife “unfit” for her husband after she was raped by her father-in-law earlier this month.

Begum Naseem Iktedar Ali and Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali said on Tuesday that as board members they endorsed the “fatwa” issued by the Deoband school of Islamic thought. They said that though they sympathised with Imrana’s plight, they believed that she would have to separate from her husband. The members said that her husband, however, would have to continue to support their five children.

“The fact that Imrana was raped by her father-in-law completely bars her reunion with her husband. There is no way she can be allowed to again live with her husband as his wife,” said Begum Naseem Iktedar Ali. Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali also echoed similar sentiments when he said that the decision given by the Deoband scholar was in accordance with Shariat laws and hence binding on all Muslims.

“Since both Imrana and her husband are Muslims, we expect them to follow the fatwa without delay,” he said. Both the members, however, advocated “strongest” punishment for the rapist father-in-law Ali Mohammad and said that had India been an Islamic country, he would have been stoned to death.

Incidentally, Ali Mohammad had already been arrested by the police under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and is currently in police custody.

However, two other senior members of the AIMPLB, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that this was the “personal view” of the members, and not the official stand of the board. “The AIMPLB has not had any official meeting on this issue and therefore there is no official stand. If any member is saying anything, it should be treated as his or her personal view,” said a senior board member.

Meanwhile, the All-India Women’s Personal Law Board has strongly opposed the “fatwa” given by the Deoband scholar. Talking to this newspaper, the president of the women’s board, Ms Shaista Amber, termed the fatwa “unfair and discriminatory”.

“Imrana is the victim and it is she who is now being victimised by the clerics too. What is her fault if she has been raped? Should she now pay for the misdeeds of her father-in-law too,” she asked. Ms Amber declared that the women’s board would soon convene a Shariat court for Imrana and women clerics would decide her case according to the Shariat, which, she alleged, was being misinterpreted by some Muslim scholars.

In a related development , the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) has also criticised the Deoband “fatwa”.

AIDWA president Subhashini Ali will be leading a demonstration at Imrana’s home in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, on June 30 to protest the ruling of the clerics. “The decision of the clerics is highly questionable.

Such an attitude is bound to dissuade women from raising their voice against such exploitation and violence in future because they would be scared of being ostracised,” she said.

Another Muslim body, the Fazahe Insaniyat Welfare Society, has demanded that Imrana’s case be heard in a fast track court so that the culprit can be convicted at the earliest.—By arrangement with The Asianage