Rights of women under Muslim law: principles and practice in Bangladesh

Rights as defined and protected by law is legal right. There are varieties of legal rights as envisaged in different statutes, common laws, customs and practices. Violation of any of the legal rights entitles an aggrieved person to seek legal remedy in the courts of law. Some rights are equally shared by men and women without any gender discriniination. But there are certain rights which are exclusively enjoyed or rather enjoyable by women in particular to the exclusion of men. They are available in different constitutions, common laws, statutes, personal laws such as Muslim law, Hindu law and Buddist law and others. In Bangladesh a bulk majority of people are Muslim by faith, and are governed by Sunni school of Muslim law. This paper aims at investigating the reasonableness and adequacy of rights of women as defined and protected under the Muslim personal law as practiced in Bangladesh. It would also focus on how illiteracy and ignorance of law have denied women of their social status which they ought to have· achieved through enjoyments of their rights. This investigation would rely on different statutes relating to the topic, text books of eminent writers, judicial decisions of the superior courts of lndo-Pak- Bangladesh subcontinent and reports of international conferences