On 27th August, 2021, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and others on a petition challenging the alleged discrimination and ostracization of Parsi women, who marry outside the community, as per media reports. The petitioners – a minor named Rian R. Kishnani and his mother – Sanayaa Dalal – have alleged that women marrying non-Parsis, and their offspring, are not allowed to participate in the community’s religious, social and other activities, besides being derided on social media.
The bench comprising Justices Abdul Nazeer and AS Bopanna sought the response of the Centre and the Parsee Central Association Co-operative Housing Society Ltd., after it heard that such discrimination was a violation of Articles 14 (Right to Equality) and 21 (Life and Personal Liberty) of the Constitution; and that Parsi men marrying outside the community were not subjected to such discrimination or harassment.
The petitioners sought that the apex court give directions for the Declaration of any discrimination against the petitioners on grounds of race, ethnicity or parentage as unconstitutional; A directive to community leaders to ensure no discrimination is done against the petitioners on communal or racial grounds, and that they are not excluded from the Parsi community and society; The deletion of social media posts by two groups of orthodox Parsis, that are racist and insulting. The petitioners alleged that these posts targeted inter-married Parsi women and their children, as well as all non-Parsis in general.
As per the petition, “The petitioners’ fundamental rights are circumvented because they face social and religious ostracization, owing solely to factors of lineage, ethnicity and race consequential to the fact that Petitioner No 2 (Sanayaa Dalal) is married to a man considered to be a non-Parsi… Parsis are a race and ethnic group, and ostracization of a Parsi Zoroastrian and her offspring, on the ground of her marriage to an individual of a different lineage, race or religion, is contrary to basic human rights and the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India.”
The petition, filed through advocate Jasmine Damkewala, contended that marriage being a personal choice, women should be free to exercise it without having to face ostracization. It was submitted that a section of Parsis believes that the community is racially superior being of Aryan descent and insist that intermarriage of Parsis with other races “dilutes” and “contaminates” the ethnicity of the Parsis.
“This is contrary to the human rights of young impressionable children who are victimised simply because their mother is a Parsi but did not marry a Parsi. While some also discriminate against children born of inter-community marriages where the father is a Parsi married to a non-Parsi, the discrimination is prevalent and accepted as the norm where the child’s mother is a Parsi but not the father,” the petition said.
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