Law on stopping mob lynching, honour killing need of the hour: DMK

The DMK on Thursday said in the Lok Sabha that the need of the hour is to make laws to stop mob lynching and honour killing and not criminalising triple talaq. Participating in the discussion on the Muslim Women (protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, DMK leader Kanimozhi said she was opposed to the bill. She said the bill would not send a right signal.

The government should bring a "bill to stop honour killing as young men and women have been killed. Everyday there is a report on this. What laws we are bringing to stop that," she said. "We need to bring bill against mob lynching. That is the need of the hour," she added. The DMK member also said that the government should bring the women reservation bill. It is there in the election manifesto of the government.

It is there second term and it has not been listed yet, she said. Kanimozhi said women members should discuss issues concerning them and "we do not want men to tell us what is right for us". She said that a BJP member talked about freedom, but the situation currently is that "we are not allowed what we want to eat". Describing the Muslim Women (protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill as "divisive" and "discriminatory", she said re-promulgation of the law is a "fraud".

In Rajya Sabha last year, it was stalled because it is against the Constitution. "There are blatant deficiencies in this bill," she said, asking how the issue has become criminal in nature, when it is a civil issue. There is a need to protect rights of men also because women rights includes men's right also, she said. "Why the (the minister) is concerned only about Muslim women and there is no concern about Hindu and Christian women. Why Muslim men are being targeted," she asked.

The Lok Sabha member said domestic violence laws are strong enough to protect Muslim women. She said while the government is supporting the Supreme Court's minority judgement on bringing a law on triple talaq, the government is not supporting an apex court verdict on Sabarimala Temple issue.

"Why the BJP was silent on that and not opposed to it. Why should women be stopped from entering the Sabarimala Temple," she asked Further she asked what is the stand of the government on rape laws within marriage. "There are statistics which prove that more Hindu women have been abandoned in the country. Should the government not reach out to those women and protect them," she said. "It is to target one community and we oppose it," she added. 

-PTI