#nikahnama

तीन तलाक पर अंकुश लगाने का 'निकाहनामा' कारगर हथियार nikahnama will help stop triple talaq Muslims Women

The (All India Muslim) personal law board (calling for nikahnama to be recognised as marriage certificate) has very little understanding of the ground reality. A nikahnama is a legal document but only potentially. Our study published in 2015 found that over 47 percent women do not possess their own nikahnama and those who possessed the nikhanama were not much better off either. A typical nikahnama contains just basic details such as bride’s name, father’s name and not much beyond that. How then can it suddenly turn into an elaborate legal document that would protect a wife against triple talaq and other ills? How can a Muslim bride who is typically poor, unempowered and barely able to read/write understand and negotiate her own nikahnama? How can she beat a patriarchal set of male qazis and common sense of society that privileges husband over wife to insert legal clauses for her protection in the nikahnama? Especially when the personal law board has done nothing so far to popularise nikahnama as a legal document that every wife must negotiate and put to use as her safeguarding and legal protection!