Jammu: A private member's bill seeking to debar women of their right to property if they marry someone from outside the state was on Saturday strongly objected to by Opposition parties in the state Assembly.
Protesting against the introduction of Permanent Resident (Disqualification) Bill, which also deprives women from getting government jobs and other privileges, BJP, Jammu
and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) and Jammu State Morcha (JSM) staged a walkout.
"The bill discriminates women," senior BJP leader Chaman Lal Gupta said opposing the measure and was spontaneously supported by JKNPP and JSM members, who raised slogans and created noisy scenes for 20 minutes before leaving the House.
Gupta later told reporters, "The bill is anti-Jammu and anti-women and will deprive our girls' ancestral rights to own land, property and jobs if they marry outside the state."
JKNPP leader Harshdev Singh said, "A bill which is aimed at amending the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be introduced in the Upper House. Every bill has to go through Assembly for its passage."
Rejecting the charge, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar said there is no violation of the Constitution as any member can introduce a private members
bill.
On whether, ruling National Conference supported the bill, he said, "The fate of the bill will be decided after discussions and the opposition is making a hue and cry before
the measure is debated."
PTI
First Published: Saturday, March 13, 2010, 14:49