Najma Heptullah refutes charges by Arif Mohammad Khan, says ‘what he has said about me is not true’

NEW DELHI: Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah has denied that she had in anyway midwifed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, which was brought in by the Rajiv Gandhi government in response to the Shah Bano judgement. She was responding to allegations made by ex-Union minister Arif Mohammad Khan, who said she had assisted in parleys between the Rajiv Gandhi government and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board in the drafting of the law. Her role in framing the regressive law, Khan had insisted, impaired her commitment to a Uniform Civil Code.

“I was deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha in 1985... The bill was a private members one introduced by GM Banatwala, and the Rajiv Gandhi government was determined to take it further looking at the reaction of orthodox members of the Muslim community. There was fierce opposition to it too,” she said. “My role was restricted to breaking the parliamentary log jam. Ashok Sen as law minister framed the law, and Rajiv Gandhi took the political decision,” she said. “I don’t question Khan’s motives for leaving Rajiv government, but what he has said about me is not true,” she added.