UCA News
Contribute

Plea seeking Hindu women’s rights raises storm in Bangladesh

A section of minority Hindus call it an attempt ‘to break our families and get us out of this country’
Bangladeshi Hindu women are seen with a child in this file photo from 2014

Bangladeshi Hindu women are seen with a child in this file photo from 2014. (Photo: UCAN files)

Published: May 31, 2023 11:21 AM GMT
Updated: May 31, 2023 11:23 AM GMT

A writ petition seeking legal rights and dignified life for Hindu women in Bangladesh has angered a section of the minority Hindu community who see it as an attempt to break their families and drive them out of the country.

The writ petition was jointly filed in the High Court by three Hindu individuals and six rights campaigners on May 3

“We are not asking for much. We are asking for some basic human rights,” said ZI Khan Panna, chairperson of Ain O Salish Kendra, a rights organization, who is one of the petitioners.

The petition argued that Hindu women are governed by customary laws and treated as a burden in their society. However, the state, which came into being over five decades ago promising equal rights to all, regardless of religion, sex, race, caste, or place of birth, refuses to stand by them, it said.

Bangladesh, which was founded in 1971, has passed only one law — Hindu Marriage Registration Act 2012 — which critics say is flawed because it tacitly approves traditional Hindu marriage rites and makes marriage registration optional for Hindus.

Hindu women need to have rights to divorce and marriage registration, maintenance and adoption, guardianship of children, and equal inheritance in property, the petition said, and sought a modern law to govern all aspects of Hindu women’s lives.

"They want to break our families"

Panna said that Hindu women, in neighboring India, which is a Hindu-majority country, and around the world, are governed by modern laws ensuring their basic human rights, and hence it was necessary that Bangladesh takes necessary legal steps.

However, the Bangladesh National Hindu Grand Alliance said it will strongly oppose the petition legally and through a public protest program.

“They don’t want our peace. They want to break our families and get us out of this country,” alleged Gobinda Chandra Pramanik, secretary general of the Alliance.

He saw a conspiracy against his religion “motivated by the business interest of the NGOs.”  Hindu women are more than happy in their lives, Pramanik told UCA News on May 28.

The petition presented a different picture with the Hindu women petitioners sharing their stories of abandonment by husbands and deprivation in society. Some were forced to stay in unhappy marriages.

“Dissolution or continuation of marriage is a fundamental right of freedom of choice and liberty,’ said the petition while pointing out that under the old Hindu laws in Bangladesh, a woman cannot get separated from her husband. Also, this requires a marriage to be registered in the first place.

"Hindu women are deprived and the situation needs to change"

Registration of marriage is compulsory for Muslims, but not for followers of other religions like Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists.

A colonial law, the Hindu Married Women’s Right to Separate Residence and Maintenance Act of 1946, offers limited maintenance for Hindu wives under certain circumstances, the petitioners said.

Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council said the multi-faith organization was observing the situation closely.

“I personally believe Hindu women are deprived and the situation needs to change,” Dasgupta told UCA News on May 29.

The petitioners argued that the issue should not be looked at from a religious angle and the government is obliged to protect the civil and political rights of all women in Bangladesh.

“We have to look at it humanely. We must not forget that religion is for people,” said Panna.

Help UCA News to be independent
Dear reader,
Lent is the season during which catechumens make their final preparations to be welcomed into the Church.
Each year during Lent, UCA News presents the stories of people who will join the Church in proclaiming that Jesus Christ is their Lord. The stories of how women and men who will be baptized came to believe in Christ are inspirations for all of us as we prepare to celebrate the Church's chief feast.
Help us with your donations to bring such stories of faith that make a difference in the Church and society.
A small contribution of US$5 will support us continue our mission…
William J. Grimm
Publisher
UCA News
comment

Share your comments

1 Comments on this Story
SURAJIT ROY MAJUMDER
This report is one-sided and does not reflect the opposite view. First of all, Hindus are living very peacefully for thousands of years being happy with their current religious family customs and no Hindu organizations felt any urge to reform them, neither any Hindu women organizations. The fact is some NGOs and allegedly some ex-Hindu women now converted into other faiths have planned to file the petition for their petty personal interests. The NGO can showcase their activities and can ensure their foreign donation and the converts can ensure their part of paternal property. Hindu community has nothing to do with this petition. Notice one thing that while they are seeking to redress discrimination of a small community, namely Hindus because presumably they won't protest as being a soft target, they won't dare to move against any discriminatory customs existing in other religious communities. This is their double standard and lack of honesty. If the petitioners had any good intentions, they could seek justice against all discriminations by asking for a Uniform Civil Code for every citizen of the state. But they are not doing that and unjustly moving against only Hindu Laws which reveal their communal hatred against a religious minority groups in the country. They had better do something instead against the notorious Enemy Property Law made by communal Pakistan authority to confiscate Hindu property branding them as enemies of Pakistan. Secondly, Hindus have no objections if a Uniform Civil Code law is made. Some even argue that if they allow their religion-based family inheritance customs through some petition by Non-Hindus, then in future, on the plea of this instance, anybody can challenge their other customs too which will be an existential as well as civilizational threat to the minority groups. Hope that these points be covered in the report.
Asian Bishops
Latest News
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia