Wednesday, June 29 2005 15:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Reverting to one of its pet themes, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (Jun 29, 2005) favoured reforms in the Muslim Personal Laws in the backdrop of the Imran rape case and asked the Congress and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to clarify their stand on the issue.

Reviving in a veiled manner the issue of Uniform Civil Code, which was among the three issues close to its heart kept on the backburner in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) agenda, the party said the case had provided an opportunity for "reform of the Muslim Personal Laws" to bring these in consonance with the Constitutional guarantees.

"The Imran case gives the Indian society an opportunity to pause, think and reassert the need for Personal Law reforms in Islam," BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley said.

Criticising the 'fatwa' issued by the Darul-Uloom of Deoband that the alleged victim of rape by her father-in-law cannot stay with her husband, he said "such pronouncements by extra-judicial forums is a serious matter."

He had an apparent dig at the Congress as he referred to Shah Bano case, saying it had thrown up an opportunity for such reforms but "the legislature then had failed" in making use of the occasion.

"The entire nation is concerned over recent developments in relation to the case of Imran, a helpless victim of rape allegedly committed by her father-in-law," he said. Jaitley said that the case throws up several vital issues ranging from sexual violence against women to the plight of a victim of the "obnoxious religious practices still prevalent".

"She has been raped by the culprit but condemned and discredited by her own. This is wholly unacceptable under any civilised notion of the rule of law," he said.

"BJP believes that Personal Laws should be reformed so as to bring these in consonance with the Constitutional guarantees of equality and dignity of women," Jaitley said and asked that all "right-thinking" people, including Muslim religious leaders, to speak up for the victim.

He asked the Congress, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Prime Minister to "tell the nation" what their views on the issue were. "By their keeping quiet, problems will not be solved."

The BJP spokesman said that National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and National Commission for Women (NCW) also should examine the issue and speak up against the "injustice".