Culture of India:

India
Indian People
Laws in India
Culture of India: What is the logic behind making polygamy illegal in India?
Doesn't this curb our degree of freedom ? What problem does the government have if willing individuals want
to engage in polygamy ? But how come the government doesn't have any problems if Muslims do it ?
Formation of law is a very complicated topic in my opinion. There are several questions that you have asked :
Doesn't this curb our degree of freedom ?
Yes it certainly does. Any law that disallows people from doing anything is a curb on freedom. Its also on an
interference into how society wants to function.
What problem does the government have if willing individuals want to engage in polygamy ?
The prime problem with polygamy is exploitation of women. In a male dominated society, woman is always the
lesser partner in a relationship. Even a single marriage in India leads to problems of a rich old man coercing a
young woman into marriage. This will get badly accentuated in India.
The problem government has is that once law allows for something based on mutual consent, consent can be
forced. And since on average women is the less empowered gender in the country, the words "desire" and
"ban" are often heard in this context.
One must also note that polyandry is also not allowed in India but it doesn't talk about much because perhaps
its not a position married women see themselves wanting to be in.
Here in lies a problem in India especially in the domain of social laws. Given the great disparity in economic
status, urban - rural divide and conservative - liberal divide, a law used to protect a section of society interferes
in the freedom of others.
For example : There is a law against determining the sex of foetus in India to precent female infanticide and is
quite useful. But in a family where girl and boy child is equally welcome, this is a curb on their freedom. One
can plan so much better for their new born if they knew its gender.
Same goes with a lot of dowry laws. A lot of dowry laws which are formed to protect a "weak woman" ( abla
naari ) are being misused by emancipated urban women.

But how come the government doesn't have any problems if Muslims do it ?
Its a very controversial and sensitive topics. The constitution of India allows every religion to pursue its own

family law. The reason for it is that religious feelings are very sensitive to people of India. It is as sensitive to
Muslims as it is to Hindus.
Polygamy and polyandry in a equal society is not a problem. But due to asymmetric nature of this world, the
practice of polygamy in Muslims does create some news which is horrible.
For example this news Hyderabad, India: Muslim girls fall victim to doddering sheikhs from the Gulf
Another problem is of people converting to Islam ( often from Hinduism ) to legalize their second marriage.
There are very famous cases that have happened. This exploitation of Islam is an insult to Islam as much is to
humanity and Hinduism.
Given these examples, the permission of polygamy in Islam indeed causes some social problems which no
government can be happy with. But any change in the family law Muslims of India follow will require a social
change in bulk of their community. It will also require a strong liberal Muslim leader which India has not seen
since the time of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
We do have some liberals in Muslim leadership but their stature is not quite as tall to make the Muslims follow
them.