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Summary

This chapter shows that the current BJP government frames Muslim women’s rights as separate from Muslim men’s rights, and Muslim women as victims of Muslim men. When historical events vitalize stereotypes, as in the two events I will examine in this chapter, the Muslim woman emerges as a subject of rights as part of the Indian nation-state. The Shah Bano controversy in 1985 was a matter of maintenance or alimony for Muslim women after divorce. The resulting judgment denied rights to alimony to Muslim women under Section 125 of the Indian Constitution. This was the first moment where the Muslim woman subject was constructed as one to be saved. Indian National Congress and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi were the critical actors at that time. More than thirty years later, when India was firmly in the grip of Hindu nationalism, the victimhood of the Muslim woman subject became relevant again with the second Muslim Women’s (Protection of Rights) Bill presented and passed in August 2019 which outlawed instant triple talaq in the Sharaya Bano case.

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3 - From Shah Bano to Sharaya Bano: Indian Muslim Women as Subjects of Rights

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3 - From Shah Bano to Sharaya Bano: Indian Muslim Women as Subjects of Rights

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