For others like Jafar, Muslim politicians and Islamic scholars, it is an unwelcome stunt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party. A 2013 survey found 91.7% of Muslim women nationwide saying a Muslim man should not be allowed to have another wife while married to the first. The Supreme Court in 2017 found the Islamic instant divorce unconstitutional, but the order did not ban polygamy or some other practices that critics say violate equal rights for women. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board called the code impractical and a direct threat to a multi-religious Indian society. "Banning polygamy makes little sense because data shows very few Muslim men have more than one wife in India," said board official S.Q.R.

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Persons: Bano, Sadaf Jafar, Jafar, Narendra Modi's, Modi's, Ilyas, Rupam Jain, William Mallard Organizations: DELHI, Reuters, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, SOCIETY BJP, Islam Locations: Islam, Uttarakhand, India's, India, Uttar Pradesh