Click to play videoFor Umar and Priyanka, a couple from Bhopal who wanted to get married despite being from different religions, the journey towards nuptial turned out to be a topsy-turvy ride.
With Hindu groups like RSS and the Bajrang Dal staunchly opposed to the idea of the couple getting married and threatening them with dire consequences, Umar and Priyanka had to flee to Mumbai to register a court marriage.
Their bravado led to Umar's brother Shakeel being picked up by the Bhopal police and kept in custody for five days. The couple finally moved the Bombay High court that upheld their marriage.
But the trauma is not yet over. The Madhya Pradesh units of RSS and Bajrang Dal are now threatening a Bhopal bandh if the couple isn't arrested.
The saga came to light when a CNN-IBN citizen journalist sent pictures of Shakeel in police custody, nailing the police version. The court has now asked the Bhopal SP for an explanation.
So is India still intolerant to the idea of inter-religion marriages? On CNN-IBN show India 360, Bhupendra Chaubey discussed this issue with a panel comprising co-editor of Communalism Combat, Javed Anand; sociologist Dipankar Gupta and former BJP MP Prafull Goradia.
Why this intolerance?
Why is there so much of opposition for inter-religious marriages?
Goradia said he was open to inter-religious marriages as he hailed from a family that was also open to inter-religious marriages. However he said that when a person of any religion marries a Muslim it becomes one-sided marriage. “It becomes difficult for a Hindu boy to meet a Muslim girl. Secondly for the couple to be bonded in matrimony through nikaah, one has to convert to Muslim. And when the husband wants to divorce the Hindu wife then he can say talaq for three times and then the marriage is over,” said Goradia.
Therefore when a Muslim boy marries a Hindu girl or vice versa, the Muslim must marry not under religious law but under Civil Law and when divorcing also it should be done under the Civil Law only.
So is it really difficult for a Muslim boy to meet a Hindu girl or vice versa?
Anand said that with Umar now preferring to call himself Umesh and him not just marrying Priyanka according to Civil Law but Hindu law, he had every reason to condemn RSS and Bajrang Dal for protesting against their marriage. So there is no question of a Muslim boy not to be able to meet a Hindu girl or vice versa.
Whenever we look at the issue of inter-caste marriages, our immediate response is that of an extremist. Why do we react so aggressively against this question?
We do not want lovers hailing from different religions to unite because we think that is against our culture. The fundamentalists make a great issue about gender relationship. When a Hindu boy marries a Muslim girl or vice versa there is uproar.
Gupta questioned, “are we going to be vigilantes or are we going to abide by the law? If a law allows us to marry some one of our own choices then there is no need for religious groups to protest.”
When two individuals marry outside their religion and go to a Court of Law to get their marriage registered, the big debate that arises is that whether the marriage should be under Special Marriage Act or Hindu Marriage Act.
If Umar and Priyanka chose to have a Hindu marriage then the other couples may have their respective choices of marriage too, said Anand.
Should religious groups intervene in an inter-religious marriage?
Is the inter-religious marriage issue a law and order problem or an ideological problem?
It is a law and order problem. The couple has not broken the law but the RSS and the Bajrang Dal have broken the law so they should be arrested. They have to be responsible and they have to be taken to task.
People practice a religion of their choice and some are even giving up religions these days and yet there are unending debates that take place where religion is concerned. Is there a contradiction within our own society?
Gupta said, “There are people who are not very keen on their religion. There are people who are keen on religion but do not care about the religion of others. The third set of people wants to act as moral guardians to everybody else, and in this process they break the law. If they are not punished for what they do then these kind of uproar will keep happening.”
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