Monday, December 11, 2006

Time to amend Article 121(1A)

The faces of grief like the Rayappan's family will continue to be repeated in the future for other converts who revert to their religion if our politicalmasters do not attempt to resolve this conflict through the constitution.
When the 1988 Constitution Amendment Bill was enacted in Parliament in March 1988,the govt did not envisage that the enactment of Article 121(1A) would create injustice and bring grief to families like Moorthy and Rayappan.It should be apparent by now that for this lacuna in the constitution to be satisfactorily resolved there need to be an amendment to article 121(1A) of the constitution. Non-muslims who convert and later decide to revert to their original faith cannot expect the govt to step in every time such a crisis of religious identity appears.
For quick and satisfactory resolution of similar incidents, the constitution must provide clear and unambigious guidelines.If the relevant Articles of the constitution is vague and ambigious then there must be an effort to amend the relevant part of the constitution in order to provide a clear path for an equitable resolution. The affected and grieving family should not be forced to endure the uncertainty and tussle of the dead man's body while the religious authorities try to seek brownie points with their Syariah courts.

No comments: