The complex interaction between gender justice and the religious practice in India is one of the most significant constitutional and societal problems in the country. This critical analysis is anchored on the constitutional obligation to equality in Articles 14, 15, and 21, and the fundamental right to religious freedom in Article 25 and seeks to understand how marital, divorce, inheritance, guardianship, and access to sacred spaces are frequently perpetuated by religious personal laws. Article 44 on the Directive Principle that imagines a Uniform Civil Code highlights the tension between secular constitutional morality and religious autonomy that persists. Through the feminist jurisprudential prism, the article challenges the biased use of the doctrine of essential religious practices by the judiciary, its uneven results in terms of prioritizing the rights of individuals against the identities of communities. It examines the ways in which the large religious systems (Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and customary tribal systems) entrench gendered hierarchies which restrict the agency of women as well as their dignity and equal participation in the public and domestic realms.
Sonu Kumar Mukta Marandi (Wed,) studied this question.