As Bangladesh moves towards a new era by graduating from Least Developed Country (LDC) status, some of its laws dating back to the colonial period are still holding back half the population, namely, women.
At this rate, the country cannot achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) without making sure one of the objectives of ensuring gender equality is achieved.
Women from the Hindu community, for example, are still subjected to the Hindu inheritance law written in the British era. According to the existing Hindu inheritance law, all daughters of a man are not equally eligible to inherit. Unmarried daughters and married daughters with sons can inherit, while childless widowed daughters or daughters having no sons or with no possibility of having sons are excluded.
Speakers at a webinar said it was high time that the Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act, 1929 was amended to ensure equal rights for Hindu women and transgender people.
The webinar focused on the draft of the amended Hindu law of inheritance 2020 on Thursday.
The draft has been prepared by the citizens’ initiative in enacting Hindu law coalition. Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) is part of the coalition.
Speaking at the event, the country’s first Hindu woman judge, Justice Krishna Debnath, pointed out that Hindu traditionalists were the main obstacle when it came to reforming the Hindu law of inheritance, not the government.
“The government is ready to reform the law but a few parochial Hindus in the community are not in favour of reforming the law,” she said.
Parliamentarian and human rights activist Aroma Dutta MP said there had been enough discussion about reforms and now it was time to talk about an action plan.
“I have worked in remote villages where Hindu women become helpless if their husbands die as they do not know how to inherit property,” she said.
MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam said: “When we talk about women’s rights, we don't think about their religious identity because the constitution says the state cannot discriminate based on gender or religion.”
She also said a girl grew up with a sense of being discriminated against because she was taught that she was less important as her brother would get more than her when it came to inheriting property.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad General Secretary Maleka Banu said most property laws in Bangladesh were discriminatory.
“Hindu inheritance law needs reforms. Law is for people; people are not for the law. Therefore, laws need to be amended for the wellbeing of people,” she said.
Gita Biswas, a participant at the webinar, said she had not got a penny when her husband died in 2008.
“I couldn’t claim my husband’s property because my sons were underaged,” she said.
Moumita Bala, a participant from Thakurgaon, said if Hindu women got their fair share of property, people might stop asking for dowry while marrying Hindu women.
