Updated: Thursday February 13, 2014/AlKhamis
Rabi' Thani 13, 1435/Bruhaspathivara
Magha 24, 1935, at 08:26:28 PM
The Caste Disabilities
Removal Act, 1850
ACT NO. 21 OF 1850
[11th April, 1850.]
An Act
for extending the principle of section 9, Regulation VII, 1832, of the Bengal
Code throughout [
Preamble.--WHEREAS it is enacted by section 9, Regulation VII, 1832 (Ben. Reg. VII of 1832), of the Bengal Code, that "whenever in any civil suit the parties to such suit may be of different persuasions, when one party shall be of the Hindu and the other of the Muhammadan persuasion, or where one or more of the parties to the suit shall not be either of the Muhammadan or Hindu persuasions the laws of those religions shall not be permitted to operate to deprive such party or parties of any property to which,
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Short title given by the Indian Short Titles Act, 1897 (14 of 1897).
This
Act has been extend to Behar by the Berar Laws Act, 1941 (4 of 1941) and has
been declared to be in force in all the Provinces of India, except the
Scheduled Districts, by the Laws Local Extent Act, 1874 (5 of 1874), s. 3.
It has
been declared to be in force in the Sonthal Parganas by the Sonathal Pargnas
Settlement Regulation, 1872 (3 of 1872), s. 3.
The Act
has been extended to and brought into force in Dadra and Nagar Haveli by Reg. 6
of 1963, s. 2 and Sch. I (w.e.f. 1-7- 1965) and to the Union
It has
been declared, by notification under s. 3 (a) of the Scheduled Districts Act,
1874 (14of 1874), to be in force in the following Scheduled Districts,
namely:---
West
Jalpaiguri . . .See Gazette of
The Districts of Hazaribagh, Lohardaga (now the Ranchi District, see Calcutta Gazette,
1899, Pt. I, p. 44), and Man-bhum, and Pargana Dhalbhum and the Kolhan in the District
of
Singhbhum . . . . Ditto 1881, Pt. I, p. 504.
The
Scheduled portion of the Mirzapur District . . . . Ditto 1879, Pt. I, p. 383.
Jaunsar
Bawar . . . . Ditto 1879, Pt. I, p. 382.
The
District of Lahaul . Ditto 1886, Pt. I, p. 301.
The
Scheduled Districts the C.P. . . . . Ditto 1879, Pt. I, p. 771.
The
Scheduled Districts in Ganjam and
Coorg .
. . Ditto 1879, Pt. I, p. 747.
The
Porahat Estate in the Singhbhum District . . . Ditto 1897, Pt. I, p. 1059.
It has
been extended by notification by s. 5 of the last-mentioned Act, to the
following Scheduled Districts, namely:---
Kumaon
and Garhwal . See Gazette of
The
Tarai of the
It has
also been extended to the New Provinces and Merged States, see Act 59 of 1949.
2.
Subs. by Act 3 of 1951, s. 3 and Sch., for "the territories subject to the
Government of the East India Company".
3. Rep.
by the Bengal Civil Courts Act, 1871 (6 of 1871), which was rep. by the Bengal,
but for
the operation of such laws, they would have been entitled";
and
whereas it will be beneficial to extend the principle of that enactment
throughout 1*[
1. Law
or usage which inflicts forfeiture of, or affects, rights onchange of religion
or loss of caste to cease to be enforced.
1. Law
or usage which inflicts forfeiture of, or affects, rights on change of religion
or loss of caste to cease to be enforced.--So much of any law or usage now in
force within 1*[
way to
impair or affect any right of inheritance, by reason of his or her renouncing,
or having been excluded from the communion of, any religion, or being deprived
of caste, shall cease to be enforced as law 2*[in any Court].
2.
Short title and extent.
3*[2.
Short title and extent.--(1) This Act] may be called the Caste Disabilities
Removal Act, 1850.
(2) It
extends to the whole of
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Subs. by Act 3 of 1951, s. 3 and Sch., for "the territories subject to the
Government of the East India Company".
2.
Subs. by s. 3 and Sch., ibid., for "in the Courts of the East India
Company, and in the Courts established by Royal Charter within the said
territories".
3.
Added by s. 3 and Sch., ibid.
1.
Law or
usage which inflicts forfeiture of, or affects, rights onchange of religion or
loss of caste to cease to be enforced.
1. Law
or usage which inflicts forfeiture of, or affects, rights on change of religion
or loss of caste to cease to be enforced. So much of any law or usage now in
force within 1*[India] as inflicts on any person forfeiture of rights or
property, or may be held in any way to impair or affect any right of
inheritance, by reason of his or her renouncing, or having been excluded from
the communion of, any religion, or being deprived of caste, shall cease to be
enforced as law 2*[in any Court].
2.
Short
title and extent.
3*[2.
Short title and extent. (1) This Act may be called the Caste Disabilities
Removal Act, 1850.
(2) It
extends to the whole of
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Subs.
by Act 3 of 1951, s. 3 and Sch., for "the territories subject to the
Government of the East India Company".
2 Subs.
by s. 3 and Sch., ibid., for "in the Courts of the East India Company, and
in the Courts established by Royal Charter within the said territories".
3 Added
by s. 3 and Sch., ibid
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Caste Disabilities Removal Act, 1850
Report
No. 85
This
Act was enacted for extending the principles contained in section 9 of
Regulation VII of 1832 of the Bengal Code to the territories subject to the
Government of East India Company. According to the said principles as contained
in the preamble of the Act, whenever in any civil suit wherein one party shall
be of the Hindu and the other of the Muhammadan persuasion, or where one or
more of the parties to the suit shall not be either of the Muhammadan or Hindu
persuasions, the laws of those religions shall not be permitted to operate to
deprive such party or parties of any property to which, but for the operation
of such laws, they would have been entitled. The provisions of the Act read as
under:-
Preamble. WHEREAS it is enacted by section 9, Regulation VII, 1832, of the Bengal
Code, that “whenever in any civil suit the parties to such suit may be of
different persuasions, when one party shall be of the Hindu and the other of
the Muhammadan persuasion, or where one or more of the parties to the suit
shall not be either of the Muhammadan or Hindu persuasions, the laws of those
religions shall not be permitted to operate to deprive such party or parties of
any property to which, but for the operation of such laws, they would have been
entitled : and whereas it will be beneficial to extend the principle of that
enactment throughout the territories subject to the Government of the East
India Company ; It is enacted as follows:-
1. Law or usage which inflict forteiture of,
effects, rights on change of religion or loss of caste to be enforced. So
much of any law or usage now in force within
the territories subject to the Government of the East India Company as inflicts on any person forfeiture
of rights or property, or may be held in any way to impair or affect any right
of inheritance, by reason of his or her
renouncing, or having been excluded from the communion of any religion, or
being deprived of caste, shall cease to be enforce So much of any law or usage
now in force within the territories
subject to the
Government of the
East India Company
as inflicts on any person forfeiture of rights or property, or may be
held in any way to impair or affect
any right of
inheritance, by reason of his
or her renouncing,
or having been
excluded from the communion of any religion, or being deprived of caste,
shall cease to be enforced as law in the Court
of the East India Company, and in
the Courts established by Royal Charter within the said territories as law in
the Court of the East India Company, and in the Courts
established by Royal Charter within the said territories.
The purpose of the Law was to suppress any
law or usage, which inflicts on any person forfeiture of rights or property or
affects any right of his inheritance by reason of his renouncing of his
religion or exclusion from his religion or caste. This Act is one of those Acts
promulgated by the Britishers during their rule over
The caste Disabilities Removal Act 1850, was adopted vide the Adoption of Acts and Ordinances Order 1949. An Amendment was made in the Act vide the Caste Disabilities Removal (West Pakistan Amendment) Act 1963 (Act X of 1963) by adding the following proviso to section 1 of the Act by which its application to Muslims to the extent of the right of inheritance has been exempted.
“Provided that nothing contained in this Act
shall apply to the rights of inheritance”.
“Provided that nothing contained in this Act shall apply to the rights of inheritance to the property of a Muslim”
This Act was considered by the Council of Islamic Ideology in 1966 and then in 1976 and it was unanimously recommended that “An apostate, according to the Islamic Law, is deprived from inheritance. Again a non-Muslim can not be the heir of a Muslim but a Muslim can be the heir of a Muslim as well as a non-Muslim. The present Act is a negation of these principles and comes in to conflict with the provisions of Islamic Law”. However, the above recommendations of the Council are silent about the amendment made in the through Act X of 1963, law by adding the proviso to section I of the Act.
The Act was again considered by the Council in 1981 and it was observed that the aforesaid amendment in the law saves only the right of inheritance to the property of a Muslim and does not cover his other rights, namely, the right of guardianship, of marriage and custody of Muslim minor’s person and property etc. So the council recommended that exemption in the proviso added to Section 1 of the Act vide Act-X of 1963 may also be extended to right to marriage and Guardianship and other rights of a Muslim affected by the law and the existing proviso may be substituted by the following:
“Provided that nothing contained in this Act shall
apply to the rights of guardianship, of marriage, and the rights of inheritance
to the property of a Muslim or any other rights of a Muslim affected under
Shariah on account of his renouncing Islam.”
The Council has in its
recommendations on the law taken into consideration the comments made by the
then Chairman Council of Islamic Ideology Dr. Justice Tanzil-ur-Rehman
regarding the said Act in his book “Islamization
of Pakistan Law”. The relevant portion reads as under:-
“So far as the provision relating to laws of
caste and its effect is concerned, it cannot be objected from Islamic point of
view as Islam does not believe in caste system. But the provisions relating to
the change of religion (of Islam) and its effect on ones rights of property or
right of inheritance are in conflict with the Islamic law. In Islam, if a
Muslim renounces his religion of Islam and becomes apostate, his rights and
property are thereby affected. The principles of law in the aforesaid Act are
repugnant to the Injunctions of the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah in matters. Inter alia, of guardianship, of
marriage, custody of Muslim minor’s person and property, right of inheritance,
holding property and giving evidence against a Muslim.”
The recommendations of the Council
of Islamic Ideology and the views of Dr. Justice Tanzil-ur-Rehman on the law
are based on the injunctions of the Holy Quran and Sunnah and the opinions of
Muslim jurists. According to a well known saying of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H)
people belonging to two different faiths can not inherit from each other. It
has been narrated from Usama Bin Zaid that the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) has said
that “neither a Muslim will inherit from his infidel ancestor nor an infidel
will inherit from his Muslim ancestor”. (Sahih
Muslim, Kitab Al-Faraiz Vol. IV / 237p). Similarly the guardianship of infidels
over Muslim minors and their evidence against a Muslim has been declared by the
Muslim jurists as invalid on the basis of many verses of the Holy Quran and the
opinions of Muslim jurists, which have been quoted by Dr. Justice
Tanzil-ur-Rehman in his book, referred to above.
The Act further contains some words
like “East India Company” and “Royal Charter” etc which were relevant at the
time of enactment of the law but now such like words have become redundant as
there exists no more
(i) the words “The East
India Company” in the second line of the section may be substituted with
the word “
(ii) The
proviso added by the West Pakistan Amendment in the Act may be substituted with
the proviso suggested by the Council of Islamic Ideology and it may also be
made applicable to the
(iii)
the proviso added to the Act by the provinces may be adopted to the Act
in its application to the
A comparative statement alongwith draft
amendment bill is annexed.
Comparative
Statement
|
Existing |
Amended |
|
So
much of any law or usage now in force within
the territories subject
to the Government
of the East India
Company as inflicts
on any person forfeiture of rights or property, or may be held in any way to
impair or affect any right
of inheritance, by reason of
his or her
renouncing, or having
been excluded from the
communion of any religion, or being deprived of caste, shall cease to be
enforced as law in the Court of the
East India Company, and in the Courts established by Royal Charter
within the said territories. |
So
much of any law or usage now in force within the territories subject to the Government of Pakistan as inflicts on any person forfeiture of
rights or property, or may be held in any way to impair or affect any
right of inheritance, by reason of
his or her
renouncing, or having
been excluded from the
communion of any religion, or being deprived of caste, shall cease to be
enforced as law in any Court established in Pakistan. Provided that nothing
contained in this Act shall apply to the rights of guardianship, of marriage,
and the rights of inheritance to the property of a Muslim or any other rights
of a Muslim affected under Shariah on account of his renouncing Islam. |
A
Bill
to amend the Caste Disabilities Removal Act, 1850
Whereas it is expedient to amend the Caste Disabilities Removal Act 1850 (Act XXI of 1850) for the purpose hereinafter appearing;
It is hereby enacted as follows: -
1. Short
title and commencement. -
(1)This Act may be called the Caste Disabilities Removal (Amendment) Act 2006.
(2)It shall come into force
at once.
2. Amendment
of the preamble. In the preamble of Act XXI of 1850
3. Amendment
of section 1, Act XXI of 1850.-
1. In the Caste Disabilities
Removal Act (XXI of 1850), in section 1,
(a)
for the words “ the East India Company”
the word “
(b)
for the words and comma “in the
Courts of the East India Company, and in the Courts established
by Royal Charter within the said territories” the words and colon
“
in any Court established in
2. after section 1, amended as aforesaid, the
following proviso shall be added, namely.
“Provided that nothing contained in this Act shall
apply to the rights of guardianship, of marriage, and the rights of inheritance
to the property of a Muslim or any other rights of a Muslim affected under
Shariah on account of his renouncing Islam”
Commission’s deliberation on 10.06.2006
The working paper was considered by the
Commission in its meeting held on 10.6.2006and the following are the
deliberations:-
The Commission considered the Caste
Disabilities Removal Act 1850. The Commission was explained by the Secretary
that a number of letters were issued to the Council of Islamic Ideology to
supply the copies of study of the law while recommending amendment in the Act
by the Council for placing before the Commission but the Council replied that
there is no record o study available in the Council. The Secretary further
explained that the amendment proposed by the Council of Islamic Ideology is
adopted from the book written by one of its Chairman, Mr. Justice (Retd)
Tanzilur Rehman. The Chairman observed that the issue relating to guardianship
is very technical and will create a lot of problems therefore, the Commission
dropped the proposal of adding proviso to the Act however the Commission
recommended omission of the words East India Company from the Act.
[1][1]The Caste Disabilities Removal (
(W.P. Act X of 1963)
[12 July 1963]
An Act to amend the Caste Disabilities Removal Act, 1850, in its
application to the
Preamble — WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Caste Disabilities Removal Act,
1850, in its application to the
It is hereby enacted as
follows,---
1. Short title and extent.
— (1) This
Act may be called the Caste Disabilities Removal (West Pakistan Amendment) Act,
1963.
(2) It shall
extend to the whole of
2. Amendment
of section 1 of Act XXI of 1850.— The full-stop at the end of
section 1 of the Caste Disabilities Removal Act, 1850, shall be replaced by a colon and
thereafter the following proviso shall be added:---
“Provided that nothing contained in this
Act shall apply to the rights of inheritance to the property of a Muslim”.
[1][1]For statement of objects and
reasons, see Gazette of West Pakistan
(Extraordinary) 1963, page 1210.
This Act was passed by the West Pakistan Assembly on 2nd July, 1963; assented to by the Governor of West Pakistan on 11th July, 1963; and, published in the West Pakistan Gazette (Extraordinary), dated 12th July, 1963, pages 3081-82.
Go to Index
| LL. B. – I | LL. B. – II
| LL. B. – III | LL. B.
Directory | Home