Laws That Target Minorities

The Narendra Modi-led government has enacted many laws that systematically discriminate against Muslims

- Anisha Reddy

Criminalising Triple Talaq in 2019

While divorce emanating from the utterance of 'talaq' three times was already made illegal in an earlier judgment, the government passed a law in 2019 criminalising the utterance of these three words. So, if a Muslim man says these three words to his wife, they are not divorced but the husband faces a prison term. Muslim activists have criticised the law for skipping the actual process of providing justice and financial security to Muslim women, as imprisoning husbands could prevent them from paying postdivorce maintenance.

Citizenship Amendment Act inof 2019

The new citizenship law is an amendment to a 1955 legislation and makes religion the basis for granting Indian citizenship. The law grants citizenship to 'persecuted' minorities-Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but it makes no reference to Muslims from these areas, who would then effectively be denied from seeking Indian citizenship.

Criminalising the Possession of Beef