74 Per Cent Muslims In India Prefer Having Sharia Courts: Pew Research Study

One of the Pew Research study findings has revealed that a large majority of Muslims in India, around 74 per cent of them, prefer having access to their respective religious courts to settle their family disputes that also include cases of inheritance and divorce.

There are about 70 Islamic courts in India, known as dar-ul-qaza, and a majority of them are based in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Moreover, the report has also disclosed that a certain percentage of Indians have also raised concerns and apprehensions regarding the Sharia courts overshadowing the official judiciary of the country.

That is because a part of the population, the Muslims, is not bound by the same laws as everybody else.

“Three-quarters of Muslims in India (74 per cent) support having access to the existing system of Islamic courts, which handle family disputes (such as inheritance or divorce cases), in addition to the secular court system,” the report’s finding was quoted in a report by The Times of India.

The Pew Research study also stressed that Muslims have an inclination towards leading religiously segregated lives regarding specific issues of public life and marriage, friendship, etc.