MMDA

The Sri Lankan Government needs to move ahead with MMDA reforms before any more delays and scuttling by conservative groups with intentions to suppress Muslim women’s rights in the name of culture or religion   The Sri Lankan Muslim communities have been abuzz with debates about the reform of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) lately, with most segments agreeing …

Reforming the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) has become an endless saga of committees and consultations, more to satisfy the political addenda of governments, parliamentarians and Muslim vote-bank managers than to make Muslim matrimonial matters keep pace with changing circumstances of Sri Lanka and its Muslim community. Between the time when Justice Saleem Marsoof Committee (JSMC) submitted its findings and recommendations …

Divorce is distasteful to anyone but it needs to be considered as an option ‘Law is Light’ is a trilingual legal project to shed light on the law. The Latin maxim ‘ignorantia legis neminem excusat’ translates to ‘ignorance of the law is not an excuse’. The Pro Bono Committee of the Law Students’ Association of Sri Lanka strives to educate …

At a time when calls for reforming the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) are getting stronger, we find a devious move to scuttle the reform process altogether by some UK-based bigots obsessed with depriving our Muslim women here of a basic human right. One such is the so-called ‘Strengthen MMDA’ movement and their mouthpiece, a woman going by the …

The Government’s proposals to reform the provisions of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act 9 of 1951 (MMDA) by abolishing the Quazi courts has given rise to a loud outcry in the Muslim community. The MMDA is a piece of legislation that relates only to Muslims and does not in any way harm or adversely affects other communities in the …

This refers to the article titled “MMDA: Will The Cabinet Blink?” written by Mr. Ameer Faaiz which appeared in Colombo Telegraph on 23/08/2021.  In the greater interest of (1) the rights of Muslim women, men and children (2) the continuation of the Sri Lankan heritage of legal pluralism and (3) the uniquely diverse ethno-religious-cultural composition, the cabinet may be cautioned against injudiciously …