Thursday, August 18 2005 23:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (August 18, 2005) questioned Congress Party's 'silence' on the 'fatwas' issued in the Imrana case and the latest one barring women from contesting elections and demanded that Muslim women too be made legally entitled to equal inheritance rights in ancestral property.

"The Congress party talks big about gender equality and women's empowerment but it is not clear what Congress Party and its President think about the fatwas issued in the Imrana case and the one asking women to contest polls under veil or the Supreme Court's concern on the parallel judicial system," BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman V K Malhotra told reporters here.

He said if the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government was sincere about providing justice and empowerment to women, it should make the provisions of the recently amended Hindu Succession Act equally applicable to Muslim women.

When pointed out that Muslim women had inheritance rights under their personal law, he said, "We want it to be brought under the purview of the common law so that it becomes legal."