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If a Muslim man can have four wives, why can't a Muslim woman have four husbands?

This was the rhetorical but loaded question, B Kemal Pasha, a Kerala high court judge posed on Sunday at a seminar organized by a Muslim women's forum. Judge Pasha also said that to lead a proper life a man or woman needed just one partner.

According to the judge, Muslim Personal Law discriminated against women on matters related to dowry, divorce and inheritance, and this contradicted the Koran's position on these issues.

"It is discrimination and the religious leaders who have created such a situation cannot shy away from addressing it. They should introspect whether they are qualified for pronouncing judgments. The persons who receive the judgements should also think about that," the judge said.

The Kerala judge was speaking at a seminar organized by Nisa and the Punarjani Charitable Trust here.

While the Koran actually granted women the right to extrajudicial divorce by way of Fasakh, Muslim personal law didn't grant that right to women even as it allowed men the right to pronounce talaq, Judge Pasha added.

The Constitution guaranteed equality to both man and woman, Judge Pasha said, adding that all laws of the country come under the purview of Article 14 and Article 21 which guaranteed right to equality and right to life respectively.

Judge Pasha said several shortcomings of Muslim personal law stemmed from the fact that it was not properly codified.

"Currently the courts are rendering justice on the basis of precedence and on the basis of the Mohammedan Law as compiled by legal expert D F Mulla. What is being implemented is not fully as per Koranic verses. Let the personal law be codified as per the principles of Koran which had expounded equality for man and woman," the judge said.

Judge Pasha further said that Muslim personal law had drawbacks related to the Hanafi law of intestate succession as it didn't allow a father who had only daughters to ensure that his property is inherited by his daughters and wife alone as his brothers and sisters will have right over the property.

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14 January 1761