Parsi girl ostracised for marrying into another community; moves Gujarat HC for relief.
When a Parsi woman enters into marriage with a man from a different community, should she be barred from entering an agiyari, or blocked from participating in the funereal observances for her parents? These important and sensitive questions — relating to love, community rules, and religious regulations —will be settled by a division bench of the Gujarat high court. The woman in question, Goolrokh Gupta, is a native of the Valsad district. She married a non-Parsi man in 1991 and moved to Mumbai.
Gupta has filed a public interest litigation in the court, making the trustees of the Valsad Parsi Anjuman Trust the respondents of the petition. The final hearing of the case will be held on April 28.
On Thursday, the bench, presided by chief justice SJ Mukhopadhaya, admitted the case and appointed advocate Vishwas Shah as the amicus curiae. Earlier, Shah had moved
an application on behalf of 93 people from the Parsi community who had objected to Gupta’s petition. However, the bench rejected the application and allowed Shah to assist the court.
Gupta, whose maiden name is Contractor, has asked in her plea to be permitted to enter the agiyari, and also to be allowed to attend the funereal events of her parents. Her parents, who are around 75 years old, live in Valsad.
Persi Kavina, the senior counsel appearing with counsel Adil Mirza on behalf of Gupta, has submitted before the court that the women of the Parsi community should not be discriminated against. Kavina has said that Parsi men who choose wives from different communities do not have any restrictions imposed on them. He pointed out that the gender bias was an anachronism because in other parts of India, women who marry into other faiths or communities do not lose any right.
As for the Valsad Parsi Anjuman Trust, it has submitted to the court that a woman cannot enjoy the rights available to Parsis after she marries someone from another community.
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