From Shah Bano to Shayara Bano (1985–2017): Changing Feminist Positions on the Politics of Muslim Personal Law, Women’s Rights and Minority Rights in India

Abstract

The post-colonial politics of Muslim personal law, women’s rights and minority rights in India has intensified since the Shah Bano case (1985). It has reached a culmination point after the triple talaq ban by the Supreme Court of India as a result of the public interest litigation filed by Shayara Bano in 2016. This article analyses the changing position of three prominent feminist scholars, Zoya Hasan, Flavia Agnes and Nivedita Menon, from the Shah Bano case to the Shayara Bano (2017) case. The aim of this article is to show that there has been a gradual development of consensus in feminist scholarship on the politics of majoritarian Hindu nationalism in determining the politics of Muslim personal law, women’s rights and minority rights in India in comparison to prior understandings within an exclusively women’s rights framework.