The proposed Amendment Bill by the central government to reform the Waqf boards recommends including women members as part of the board, government sources said on Sunday. According to the bill, two women will be appointed in all states as well as the central council.
At present, women are not members of the Waqf boards or councils, which manage and protect mosques and Islamic religious endowments, the sources said.
The BJP-led NDA government is reportedly set to amend the Waqf Act to restrict the powers of the Waqf Board. On Friday, the Union Cabinet approved a total of 40 amendments to the act.
"Muslim women and children are suffering the most. If a woman is divorced, then she and her children do not get any rights. ... The government is committed to gender justice. There will be two women on every single state board and two women in the central council as per the new bill," government sources told.
The sources said that the amendments aim to bring transparency and pointed out that, as per the current Act, Waqf property cannot be challenged in any court of law. The sources asserted that even Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia or Oman do not have such a law.
"Once a land goes to Waqf, you can't reverse it. Powerful Muslims have captured the Waqf board. Only those who are controlling the Waqf boards are against this act," the sources said.
The government sources also argued that the Sachar Committee, which studies the socio-economic conditions of Muslims in India, also stated that there should be transparency in the Waqf board.
The proposed bill to curb the 'unfettered' powers of Waqf boards has invited criticism from Muslim clerics and political leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi. Owaisi claimed that the BJP has been against Waqf boards and Waqf properties "from the beginning" and is trying to eliminate them as part of its 'Hindutva agenda".
Executive Member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Khalid Rasheed, also raised concerns. "Existing laws are adequate for Waqf management" and "if the government feels that there is any need for amendment, it should consult and take the opinion of the stakeholders", he told news agency ANI.
In response to the opposition, government sources stated that a "dangerous narrative is being created by certain Muslim clerics, who are making wild statements that Muslim land will be taken away". They also pointed out that the new bill will include a provision that only Muslims can create Waqf properties.
