Society

Qazi Courts Or Quasi Justice?

Some say the Sharia courts offer speedy and cheap justice. Others say they are regressive.

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Qazi Courts Or Quasi Justice?
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Of course, that's one view. Others feel these courts save the poor from the clutches of lawyers and long-winded court battles. Take the Imarat-e-Sharia at Phulwari Sharif in Bihar, the country's oldest and largest Sharia court. Says Maulana Anees-ur-Rahman Qasimi, the general secretary of the institution: "We provide speedy and cheap justice. If there is a problem pertaining to Muslim personal law, we deal with it rapidly. Every year our qazis settle 1,000 to 1,500 disputes. In some cases, if the parties are not satisfied with our judgement and take the dispute to civil courts, our verdicts are referred to and followed." The Imarat-e-Sharia is an old institution that still trains most of the qazis who are then sent to other parts of India. At one point Maulana Azad had wanted to become its president.

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But there is another aspect to the debate. Ever since the Shahbano issue blew up in 1985, a watershed for both minorityism and right-wing Hindu reaction, the AIMPLB has devised a strategy to discourage Muslims from taking issues pertaining to their personal laws to civil courts. Those in control of the board were gripped with the fear that if non-Muslims started settling personal law disputes, they would start interpreting the Sharia in their own way.

The reason why one of the main purposes of the law board has been to spread a network of qazi courts. Says sociologist Imtiaz Ahmad: "I don't disagree that Shariat courts serve as a community mechanism. But there are indications we have found in some field studies that in some areas they are trying to emerge as a parallel system of justice." There are several reports of Darul Qazas (houses of justice) or Sharia panchayats telling people to avoid approaching a civil court.

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Q.R. Ilyas, spokesperson of the AIMPLB, is open about the intent to increase the network of qazi courts. He points out that disputes relating to marriage and divorce can drag on for months in a civil court. But the Darul Qazas settle problems in a matter of days for a nominal fee. Says he: "There are 31 such Darul Qazas under us and we have been increasing the network since the '90s."

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