Law and Justice Ministry to launch cells to study religious laws

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, June 6: Union Law and Justice Minister M. Veerappa Moily said on June 6 that his ministry has constituted a separate cell to study the laws of various faiths in a bid to render them gender neutral. He was speaking during the release of M. Ranga Pai’s book “Role of Lord Krishna in Mahabharat” at the SDM College Auditorium.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Explaining that the existing laws are not gender neutral, he said that a cell has been created in the ministry to study all personal laws and find out if there are any provisions, which are exploitative in nature and biased against women. 

Condemning discrimination based on gender, religion, and caste, Moily said that laws should be applicable to all sections of society. Calling upon people to inculcate the values of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, he said that Shri Krishna was the first advocate of the principle that the right of land belongs to the tiller. Indian philosophers such as Basavanna and epics such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha advocated values of liberty and equality long before Karl Marx, he said. 

Speaking further about the ancient wisdom of India, he said that our ancestors who were far ahead of their times in terms of knowledge and wisdom are responsible for the fact that India has today made its mark in the fields of science and technology.

Moily claimed that the Indians were a society of knowledge even during the period of the Ramayana. The epic has documented surgical equipment and medicines that were available during that period, he said. 

Expressing his regret that people no longer practice co-existence and religious tolerance, Moily said that freedom of religion and the right to question religion should be two sides of the same coin. Dasharatha’s kingdom offered freedom to both Charvaka and Vashista, he said and added that the philosophies of atheism and theism can co-exist without any conflict. 

Shri Poornakamananda Swamiji of Ramakrishna Mutt presided over the programme. Author Ranga Pai made an introductory speech. Sudhakar Pejawar compered the programme. 

MLA Abhayachandra Jain, IGP Gopal Hosur (western range), Sumana Pai, Venkatesh Pai, and the family members of Ranga Pai participated in the programme.