Education decree discriminates against divorced Muslim women

A decree passed by the government of the Indian state of Rajasthan which means that any divorced Muslim woman has to produce legal papers if she is applying for a teaching job has been criticised as discriminatory.

Muslim organisations and legal experts are opposed to the decree because most Muslim divorces are not carried out in court and as such have no legal documents. This means that for the most part, divorced women who are seeking employment will not be able to produce the necessary documents and consequently will find it very difficult to gain employment.

"The government advertised teachers' posts for divorcees and deserted women. But when we applied for the post, the authorities refused to entertain our applications and asked us to submit a court decree," divorcee Naseem Bano told Aki/Asian Age.

And speaking to Indianmuslims.info, Dr Iqbal Ahmed Siddiqui added: "It is sheer injustice against the Muslim community. It is a conspiracy to deprive Muslim divorcees from employment opportunities. In the Muslim society divorce usually takes place verbally; even if it is written, the writing is of quite personal nature. Hardly any divorce case goes to a court of law. So there is no question of producing a court decree for divorce."

However, the government said that it would be sticking by its decision, with state minister for education Vasudev Devnani commenting that "in government rules, court decree has been deemed mandatory for divorce".