Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Act and Divorce of Muslim Women in Malappuram District

Abstract

Muslim marriage has several connotations and religious practices. Unlike Muslim women in other Indian states, Muslim women in Kerala have a unique legacy which is shaped from the historic link with the Arab world.  Basic questions that have been addressed in the article is, what are the social, economic and psychological problems faced by the divorced Muslim women. Another interesting issue addressed is the problem of looking after the children of divorced women.  Data based on Muslim divorces from the Family Courts explain that Muslim divorcees in Kerala is not having a different trajectory with the global levels. Still, ‘agreement’ based divorces are happening among the community under the aegis of religious groups and by adding these kinds of outside the family court settlement then the situation is perilous. The paper evaluates, how the Muslim women (protection of rights on marriage) Act, 2019 impacted this faction in a large Muslim populated district like Malappuram. The universe of the primary data is divorced Muslim women in Malappuram district eliciting a sample of size of 91. The paper identifies that Muslim women have twin impacts, of getting married early devoid of education to earn a livelihood and also face many consequences after divorce as an individual in family and community.