Lok Sabha passes Bill to remove leprosy as ground for divorce

All the five Acts related to marriage, divorce, and separation of Hindu and Muslim couples. - the Divorce Act, 1869, Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939, Special Marriage Act, 1954, Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956- contained provisions prescribing leprosy as a ground for seeking divorce or separation from the spouse.

The government passed the Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 that amended these acts to scrap leprosy as a ground for divorce or separation.

“Leprosy is being removed as a ground for divorce as it is now a curable disease as against the earlier notion of it being incurable,” Minister of State for Law P P Chaudhary said, replying to a discussion on The Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

  However, AIMIM leader and Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi raised staunch objection to it, saying this was an infringement on the Islamic law of marriage.

Owaisi objected to the bill arguing that unlike other marriage laws, Islam recognised marriage as a “contract between two people”. “Therefore, as per Contract laws in India, if one party willfully hides any information, like illness such as leprosy, it is a ground for divorce,” he said. He also claimed that contrary to the government’s claims, leprosy has not yet been eradicated in India.

Owaisi said the government should stay away from interfering with the Muslim personal laws.

In August last year, Union Cabinet gave its consent to the bill to remove leprosy as ground for divorce given that the disease is completely curable with multi-drug therapy and no justification exists in keeping the provision as part of any law, The Law Commission had also recommended the repeal of laws and provisions which were discriminatory to leprosy patients

Parliament image: Lok Sabha TV