Part-6 - Judicial pronouncements, on the subject of `ta laq-e-biddat'). These judgments, however, attempted the  interpretative course, as  against an invasive one. The  details  depicted  above  relate  to  mar riage  between Christians, Parsis, inter-faith  marriages, Muslims and  Hindus, including Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains. The unbroken  practice during the pre- independence period, and the post  independence period - under the Constitution, demonstrates a clear and unambiguous course, namely, reform in the matter of  marriage and divorce (which are integral components of  `personal law') was only introduced through legislation. Therefore in continuation of the conclusion already recorded, namely, that it is the constitutional duty of all courts to preserve and protect `personal law' as a fundamental right, any change thereof, has to be only by legislation under Articles  25(2) and 44, read with entry 5  of the Concurrent List contained in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. [p253]

 
There follows the court's scrupulous regard, "IX. Impact of international conventions and declarations on 'talaq-e-biddat'", relating articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of India each prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, the European Convention on Human Rights affirming the presumption of innocence, and the Indigenous and Tribal Populations Convention (1957) "right of ownership ... over the land" leading to that intermediate judgement.

(8) Reforms to 'personal law' in India, with reference to socially unacceptable practices in different religions, have come about only by way of legislative intervention.

 

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