Nation and Family: Personal Law, Cultural Pluralism, and Gendered Citizenship in India (70 page)

Lee Kuan Yew,
27

lineage authority: decline of,
180
; over family regulation,
21–22
; Hindu law reform and,
279
; inheritance and,
182–183
; postcolonial policy formation and,
93–94
; urban groups and,
35

L. Mallya Naika v. Somli Bai
(1978),
173

Madan Lal Sharma v. Smt. Santosh Sharma
(1980),
151
,
152

Mahalingam Pillai v. Amsavalli
(1956),
155

Maharshi Avadhesh v. Union of India
(1994),
251

Mahmood, Tahir,
241

maintenance rights,
174–180
; adultery and,
153–155
,
157–158
,
305n51
,
305n53
; customary divorces and,
164–165
,
307n80
; and mobilization regarding Muslim law,
225
; under Muslim and Christian law,
205–206
; under Muslim law,
217
; Muslim law reforms and,
237–247
; MWPRDA and,
237
; precolonial traditions regarding,
308n101
; restitution of conjugality and,
170
,
197
; unilateral male repudiation and,
247–250

Majumdar, Rochona,
102–103
,
121
,
124–125

Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church,
230

Malaysia,
5
,
6
,
49–50
,
60
,
65
,
76
,
200–201
,
270
,
294n72

Malviya, Madan Mohan,
15

Mamdani, Mahmood,
23–24

marriage: under Christian law,
217–218
; Christian law reform and,
236
,
253
; gender equality in inheritance and,
186
,
189
; Hindu law reform and,
279
; initiatives regarding,
211–212
; intercaste,
107
,
117–118
,
127
,
129
; irretrievable marital breakdown,
146
,
147–148
; maintenance rights and obligations in,
174–180
; and mobilization regarding Christian law,
226–230
; and mobilization regarding Muslim law,
222–225
; under Muslim law,
215
; national inheritance reform and,
194
; and regulation of family,
19
,
20
.
See also
bigamy; divorce, divorce rights; polygyny

Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act (1976),
144
,
151–152
,
184

Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill (2010),
147–148
,
281
,
283

Mary Sonia Zachariah v. Union of India
(1995),
255–256
,
257–258

Masroor Ahmed v. State of Delhi
(2007),
251

mata
,
89
,
217
,
238–240
,
241
,
243
,
244–245
,
246
,
247
,
249
,
316–317n64

matriliny,
21
,
35
,
37
,
39
,
45
,
51
,
62
,
82
,
88–89
,
105
,
124
,
132
,
134
,
142
,
185–186
,
187
,
247
,
277
,
292n36
,
293n60
,
294n72
,
295n87
,
299n72
,
300n92
,
310n132
,
311n140
; and customary law,
124
,
131
,
134

matrimonial home: location of,
170–173
,
196–197
; rights to share of,
315n44

matrimonial property: bill to grant shares in, in India,
138
,
148
,
198
,
281
,
283
,
315n44
; discussion of and mobilization about, in India,
138
,
144
,
146
,
148
,
228
,
230
,
247
,
252
,
260
,
262
,
264
,
281
,
283
,
303n24
,
315n44
; in Indonesia,
34
,
61
,
247
; in Iran,
56
; Moroccan law,
34
,
295n75

Menski, Werner: on approaches to divorce law reform,
144–145
,
146
; on changes in Hindu law,
100–101
,
114
; on “constructive desertion”,
158
; on cruelty as grounds for divorce,
149
,
151
; on polygamy and maintenance rights,
177
,
180
; on roles of women’s organizations,
144
,
146–147
; on
T. Sareetha v. T. Venkata Subbiah
,
167

mental cruelty,
149
,
150
,
151
,
152

Migdal, Joel,
291n21
,
291n24

Ministry of Women and Child Development,
148

minorities: cultural diversity and,
59–62
,
199–200
; in nationalist narratives,
62–65
; policy regarding, in personal law,
66
; postcolonial policy formation and,
92–93
; traditions of,
232–233
.
See also
minority law

minority law: and agenda for further personal-law reform in India,
284
; changes in policy makers’ outlook on,
231–236
; courts and contentious questions in,
214–219
; cultural and legal mobilization regarding,
221–222
; and focus on Hindu law in postcolonial policy formation,
97–99
; formation of early postcolonial,
219–221
; limited changes to,
134
; and multiculturalism in state formation,
277
; overview of,
262–265
; overview of approaches to,
199–206
; postcolonial policy formation and,
92
; reform in India,
89–90
; reform in India and Indonesia,
78–83
; restrictions in reforms of,
281
; significant changes in,
131
.
See also
Christian law; Muslim law

Mitakshara
law: application of,
309–310n122
; dissolution of coparcenaries under,
189
; gender equality in inheritance and,
185–186
; influence of, on postcolonial policy formation,
111–112
; inheritance under,
86
,
115–116
,
122–123
,
181
; joint property under,
135
; lineage authority under,
93–94
; property under,
96
; women’s inheritance rights under,
193

Mitra, Subrata,
42–43

modernity: and authenticity in national narratives,
66–70
; formation of legal culture of,
33
; minorities and,
65
; and postcolonial social reforms,
23–28
; Special Marriage Act and,
126
,
127
; visions of, in India,
83–87

modes of imagination of nations: cultural change and stability in,
65–66
; discourses of community and,
57–59
; homogeneity and diversity in,
59–62
; modernity and authenticity in,
66–70
; nations and minorities in,
62–65

Mohammad Ahmad Khan v. Shah Bano Begum
(1985),
1–2
,
3
,
222
,
238–242
,
244
,
245
,
246
,
257
,
303n37
,
317n70
,
318n86

Mohammed Hanifa v. Pathummal Beevi
(1972),
248

Mookerjee, Shyama Prasad,
113

Mrs. Swaraj Garg v. K.M. Garg
(1978),
172–173

Mt. Subhani v. Nawab
(1941),
162

Mufti, Aamir,
44
,
63

multiculturalism: and alternative constructions of nation,
275–277
; consequences of,
3–4
; and formation of nation and family in India,
278–281
; influences on,
47
; major features of Indian,
7
; secularism and recognition of religion and,
40–45
,
286–287

Muslim law: and agenda for further personal-law reform in India,
282
,
284–285
; alimony and reforms in,
237–247
; authority of patrilineage under,
35
; basis of,
8
,
10–11
; Christian law reform and,
253
,
263
,
268–269
; conjugal rights under,
165–166
; courts and contentious questions in,
215–217
; in Egyptian,
48–49
,
60
,
268–269
; and family regulation in Tunisia,
21–22
,
53–54
,
74–76
; Hindu nationalists call to abandon,
222
; Indian diversity and,
62
; and Indian minority law reform,
81–83
; Indian nationalists’ views on,
203
; Indonesian diversity and,
61–62
; and Indonesian minority law reform,
78–80
; Indonesian personal-law reform and,
50–52
; as influence on Hindu law,
116–117
; inheritance and property under,
37
; interpretations of, reforms,
236–237
; legal reform and,
16
; limits in reform to,
34–35
,
234
; mobilization regarding,
206–213
,
222–226
,
264
; modernity and authenticity and,
68–69
; nation formation and,
75
; opposition to reform of,
221–222
; in Pakistani,
43
,
56
; patterns of change in,
251–252
; postcolonial policy formation and,
92
,
96
; reforms in Indian,
86–87
; regional customs and,
38–39
; religious mobilization and,
10–12
; secularism and
multiculturalism and,
42–44
; Turkish personal-law reform and,
73–74
; and unilateral male repudiation,
247–251
; variations in, in Malaysia,
295n87
; women’s rights under,
33
,
88
,
131–132
.
See also
minority law

Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act (1937).
See
Shariat Act (1937)

Muslims: accommodation of,
16
,
44–45
,
264
; application of Hindu law to,
136
,
220
; divorce rights for,
11
,
118–119
,
211
; perceptions of postcolonial roles of,
202–203
; population share of,
8
.
See also
Muslim law

Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act (MWPRDA): effects on Muslim alimony rights,
241–245
,
246
,
247
; interpretation of,
237
,
242–246
; passing of,
1–2
,
241–242

Muslim Women’s Personal Law Board,
223

Mussulman Wakf Validating Act (MWVA),
11
,
211

Musunuru Nagendramma v. Musunuru Ramakotayya
(1953),
305n52
,
309n111

nafaqa
,
217
,
245

Natchiappan, E. M. Sudarsana,
192–193

National Commission for Women (NCW),
140–141
,
185
,
186
,
188
,
244
,
302n24

National Council of Women in India (NCWI),
25
,
94

nationalist narratives: cultural change and stability in,
65–66
; family law and,
22–23
,
59
,
71
; formation of,
268–269
; homogeneity and diversity in,
59–62
,
63
; in India and Indonesia,
287–288
; influence of Orientalist representations of,
adat
on Indonesian,
80
; minority accommodation and,
199–202
; modernity and authenticity in,
66–70
; nations and minorities in,
62–65
; of pluralist nationalists,
64
,
76
,
139
; variations in,
58–59
.
See also
anticolonial nationalists; Hindu nationalism; Indian nationalism

nation(s): formation of,
266–271
; formation of, and family in India,
278–281
; influences over formation of,
271–277
; modernities and,
23–28
; modes of imagination of,
57–78
; and regulation of family,
22–23

Nehru, Jawaharlal: and Ambedkar,
83
,
85
,
110
,
111
,
113–114
; and cosmopolitan nationalism,
81
; on divorce rights,
113
; and Gandhi,
16
,
24
,
28
; jurisprudential vision of,
85
,
110
; and Kemal Atatürk,
73
; legal reform and,
14
,
24
,
76
,
83
; political experiences of,
74
; political vision of,
14
,
28
,
74
; support of, for social reform efforts,
24

Nehru, Shivrajwati,
116

Neo-Destour Party,
53
,
72–73
,
74
,
75

Newbigin, Eleanor,
101
,
102
,
103–104
,
106
,
120
,
184