Jaising hails Muslim personal law for taking consent of bride

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, who is opposing the practice of triple talaq in the Supreme Court, today praised Muslim personal law, saying it was better than the Hindu practices as at least the consent of the bride is taken before solemnisation of marriage.
Arguing that all personal laws in India should stand the scrutiny of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, Jaising said the consent of the bride is implied in case of Hindu marriages the moment brides enters the 'mandap' (marriage hall), which is not the case in Muslim personal law.
"In a way Muslim personal laws is somehow better. There is at least express consent of woman to marriage. In Hindu practices, it is implied the moment a women enters the 'mandap'," she told the court.

"The bottomline is consent, because as an individual, we all are citizens and are equal," she said.
During the arguments, the senior counsel also asked, "does the Constitution stops where the family law begins."
She said that all the personal laws -- Hindu, Muslim, Parsi and Sikh -- should stand scrutiny of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
She also said that even in its affidavit, the Centre has compared Hindu law with Muslim law.
To this, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, "we have not said so. We have not referred to any religion in our affidavit".