The Qazi Conundrum

Qazis have been in the news for all the wrong reasons for almost a decade now. And this time, it is the suspension of qazi Syed Lateef Ali Quadri for not keeping his deputy, Zulfeqar, in check. Quadri's deputy was recently arrested on grounds of "solemnising" the marriage of a 70-year-old Omani national, Khamis Mohammed Khamis, with a minor girl from Old City.
The scandalous saga of a section of unscrupulous qazis acting as facilitators in performing marriages, dubious in nature, has indeed troubled the community.There have been at least a dozen cases reported in the media in which conniving qazis have, more than willingly, acted as co-conspirators in giving their stamp of legality to marriages. And what is worse is that they have acted in tandem with thinly-veiled traffickers, or, as the police describe these nefarious individuals, "brokers". Middlemen and 'middlewomen' who for a few thousand rupees do not think twice before pressuring minors to say "qubool kiya".
There have been several instances when the government has suspended erring qazis. In 2011, the Minorities Welfare Department suspended Mohammed Najmuddin Hussain, chief qazi of a jurisdiction known as Qila-e-Mohammed Nagar (Golconda). In the same year, the qazi of Dharoor was suspended. In the ensuing year, the government suspended as many as seven qazis on various grounds ranging from harassing women, forgery and fraud to incompetence. Qazi Abdullah Rifai was also suspended. But, in most of these cases, these individuals succeeded to obtain a stay from courts and to this day are busy solemnising marriages.
It seems as though the 'anjuman' or the council of qazis, most of who have been in the profession for generations, are averse to change. As it turns out, they are now opposing tooth and nail the government's steps to bring about accountability. For, qazis have always used the archaic Kazi Act, an over 130-year-old law comprising only four sections, as a crutch to protect their interests. Though the grossly inadequate Act gives the qazi powers to appoint deputies, it does not clearly define his functions. This has been judiciously exploited by qazis. Further, jurists and lawyers point out that the Act provides that qazis should be appointed "after consulting principal Mohammedan residents" of the area but fails to define "principal Mohammedan". There have been cases in which the courts of law have not gone into the constitutionality of this Act. Also, qazis have blamed their deputies for tarnishing their image. He is quick to claim that any incident involving marriages of minor girls to older Arabs and Africans is not his mistake and that the fault lies with the deputy qazi or the 'qari-un-nikah'. But, he conveniently forgets that he has appointed them. Passing the buck is commonplace. He also seeks to take refuge in the 'sharia', which, he claims, permits a marriage once the girls are mature.
In fact, qazis are inexorably linked to the issue of khula, in which a woman seeks divorce. Despite several attempts to include this right of annulment of marriage as a precautionary measure as part of the siyahnama after scores of cases of talaq misuse were reported, the qazis have opposed this. Any attempt at reform is construed as an "interference" in Muslim personal law.
The government, on the other hand, has been atrociously slow in bringing much needed reforms in the qazath system. Meetings upon meetings with qazis and other stakeholders to improve the system over almost a decade have yielded little result. While the bright spot in the qazath system is its impeccable maintenance of records, some as many as a 100-years old, the government has been unable to digitise them. This system has now been exported to Karnataka. Ironically, a large number of qazis who were suspended were appointed by the government. The government has also failed to follow up cases of erring qazis in courts and the blurring of jurisdiction of the qazath is the past government's doing. While the act is a Central legislation, the government's inability feet to liaise with Delhi and push for rules to be framed, if not an amendment, are befuddling. And unless proactive measures are taken, young girls, instead of pursuing an education, will continue to be exploited by many more Khamises.