Six decades after it came into existence, Pakistan gave nod to a Hindu Marriage Bill that seeks to set up a legal framework for marriage and divorce besides addressing issues including forced conversions.
The Hindu Marriage Bill 2016 was tabled before the Pakistan National Assembly by Human Rights Minister Kamran Michael and was passed unanimously. The bill will now be forwarded to the Senate for consideration and passage.
“It is a historic day… and the credit goes to both the opposition and ruling parties which are on the same page on the draft bill,” Michael said after the passage of the bill.
According to The Express Tribune, the bill will institutionalise all legal rights relating to marriage. “All Hindu marriages will be registered in accordance with the provisions of this act. Such registration shall take place within 15 days of a marriage. Hindu widows will now have the right to remarry of their own free will six months after the death of her husband, according to the provisions of the bill. The bill will also help put an end to the practice of abduction of married Hindu women,” it said.
However, Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn reported that the draft bill met with minor objections raised by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Lal Chand Malhi.
He pointed towards Clause 12(iii), which deals with ‘Annulment of Hindu Marriage’, saying that it could encourage or give cover to ‘forced conversions’. The clause stipulates that any marriage under this act could be annulled if the other party “has deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of not less than two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition”.
A proviso defines ‘desertion’ as “desertion of petitioner by other party to the marriage without reasonable cause and without the consent or against the wish of such party and includes the wilful neglect of the petitioner by the other party”.
However, the minister for Human Rights pacified the Hindu legislator from Umerkot, assuring him that he had misunderstood the clause, Dawn reported.
There are penalties for violating the provisions of the bill, which also enables Hindus to finally have a proof of marriage document called the shadiparat, similar to the nikahnama for Muslims.
Among the Pakistani states, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have assented to Islamabad to formulate a Hindu marriage law that they would then adopt, while Sindh had formulated its own Hindu marriage registration law.
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