Protection of Women in Nikahnama
The Muslim women are protected in the nikahnama in the matter of matrimonial life. The nikahnama is very important document between the spouses. It is social contract between the grooom and brideand under contract act both the parties have to follow the terms and conditions of the contract. But the main tragedy is that mostly the peoples are ignorant with the law of marriage and the women are put in dark about the terms and conditions of the nikah contract. Generally the nikahnama is filled by the nikah registrar or qazi who oath the nikah alone and they have not sufficient knowledge and they don’t bother to explain to the parents of the bride.
If we see in the nikah form, there is completed protection of the women in all matrimonial matters if all the columns are filled with honestly and specifically. Especially the columns No.13 to 22 are totally in the favor of the women which are about the dower, dowry articles, maintenance, banning on the second marriage and as well the delegated powers of the divorce. Either generally these columns are left blank or we don’t take attentions about these columns. The Muslim Family Law gives complete protection to the women but unfortunately we are unable to get this advantage and only column No 13 is filled and other are left bank or crossed due to negligence by the parents of the bride or bride. It is necessary that the dower amount must be mentioned either it is prompt or deferred as mentioned in column No. 14 or if some is paid then necessary to mentioned in column No. 15.
The next column No. 16 is also about the dower amount that whether any kind of property has been given to the bride or not if given then gives the details and conditions. So if we see there are four columns from serial No. 13 to 16 about the dower amount but hardly one column is filled. Mostly the qazi or nikah registrar are also ignorance about the law and don’t take attention nor say to the parents of the bride about these facts and terms of the nikah. The column No.17 gives us the conditions about the marriage which is also often left blank or marked nil. The conditions of the marriage must be narrated here for the protection of the bride. The next column 18 is whether the groom has given the delegated power of the divorce to the bride or not if given on what conditions.
This is the important column for the protection of the rights of the women who are forced to go in the court for filing the divorce case against their husband as the delegated powers are not given. If on the some conditions this power may be given to the bride that will be better for the future and the groom will also be more caring of the bride. The column No.19 is about the band on divorce. This is an important Colum in the bride point of view and their protection. Often the husband pronounces divorce unnecessary so if condition may be imposed then it will not be easy to divorce by the husband. Generally no maintenance documents are prepared at the time of marriage. This put bad effect on the future life of the bride if the husband refuse to pay the maintenance so separate document must be prepared and mentioned in column No. 20. Column No. 21 shows the status of the groom either he is previously married or not and if he has wife, whether he has got permission from earlier wife or not.
Mostly this is not filled which is against the rights of the women when there is punishment to contract second marriage without permission then why we don’t take this point. And lastly column 22 is also regarding the permission of the arbitration about the second marriage.
In short if we must fill all columns with promptly and honestly and prepare all documents up to date then we can save the 99% rights of the women in matrimonial life but unfortunately we are not guided to do this and we are ignorant about the terms and conditions and nikah contract. Therefore it is necessary to aware the law.