Divorce and Democracy: A History of Personal Law in Post-Independence India

The Moynihan Institute’s South Asia Center presents a book talk by Saumya Saxena of O.P. Jindal Global University.

This talk will focus on arguments placed before India’s court regarding the question of Muslim divorce. These arguments centered on the Quran, gender equality, “good practices,” “essential practice,” or arbitrariness of law. While important court decisions emerged across decades, some of the significant interventions by the courts made in the 2000s demonstrate the particularities of Muslim women’s relationships with the judiciary. The talk will also discuss the multiple forums of adjudication of family disputes to illustrate the very dynamic way in which ideas of law traveled across sites of adjudication in contemporary India. 

Dr. Saumya Saxena is an associate professor in the Faculty of Law at O.P. Jindal Global University. Her research interests include legal history, family law, gender and politics in South Asia. Her book “Divorce and Democracy: A History of Personal Law in Post-Independence India” was published by Cambridge University Press in 2022. 

This event is co-sponsored by the Political Science Department.