LECTURE 27

Question 1

ABSTRACT( RATNA KAPUR)

Answer 1

1) 3 cases that are related to women’s rights.
2) Judicial reasoning resonates with the Hindu Right’s approach to gender, gender equality and secularism.
3) The intervention of progressive groups have not proved to be disruptive to existing gender norms.

Question 2

INTRODUCTION ( RK)

Answer 2

1) triple talaq/ Hadiya/ Sabarimala.
2) each case is embedded in dominant sexual, gender and religious arrangements.
3) Normative content of gender equality is shown to reflect majoritarian Hindu characteristics.
4) Gender equality vs religion

Question 3

SECULARISM, EQUALITY, GENDER AND THE HINDU RIGHT

Answer 3

Talad Asad- secularism is a problematic term based on the flawed assumption that it is a neutral, non- religious epistemiology.
It is circumscribed by the coenceptual boundaries of religion in the west and the formal colony.

saba Mahmood- secularism is a universalizing project promoted through the Christian colonial encounter with the other to incorporate her into its civilized world view.

Question 3

SECULARISM, EQUALITY, GENDER AND THE HINDU RIGHT

Answer 3

Talad Asad- secularism is a problematic term based on the flawed assumption that it is a neutral, non-religious epistemology.
It is circumscribed by the conceptual boundaries of religion in the west and the formal colony.

Saba Mahmood- secularism is a universalizing project promoted through the Christian colonial encounter with the other to incorporate her into its civilized world view.

The colonial powers reified and essentialised the practices of religious communities to govern and regulate them.
Religion formed a central political identity and formed the basis of the colonial power for Partition and the foundation of the post-colonial states of India and Pakistan.
ERP- post-independence judicial test- restricted the right of religious minorities and non- mainstream Hindus. Establish the contours of mainstream Hinduism.

Any special protection of the rights of religious minorities is cast as appeasement and as a violation of the true spirit of secularism. This approach is distinct from the substantive equality principle where special protections are given for alleviating historical disadvantages.

Question 4

TREATMENT OF WOMEN

Answer 4

1) Hindu men become the legitimate protectors of all women.
2) Equality is the affirmation of the essential difference between men and women based on biology

Question 5

TRIPLE TALAQ

Answer 5

1) Violated secularism and equality.
2) Muslim community is being treated differently. Muslim women are not being treated well compared to Hindu women.
3) Muslim women as weak, subordinate and victimized.
4) She is having to choose between formal equality( Hindu Right) and religious freedom( Muslims)
5) The decision was based on the fact that matrimony is holy and the heterosexual family unit must be preserved.
6) The decision is protectionist and paternalistic and reflects the courts inability to understand women.

Question 6

LOVE JIHAD

Answer 6

1) Hadiya case
2) J Chandrachud- ruled that the lower courts had overreached in annulling. The strength of the Constitution lay in protecting diversity that it was duty bound to uphold.

Question 7

CONCLUSION ( RK)

Answer 7

1) accept the presence of religion in courts
2) Ayappa was friends with Vavar
3) In no story was Ayappa against mentruating women
4) Complex and nuanced understanding about gender rather than assuming that a commitment to gender per se amounts to progressivism.