1228 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Khwaja Inait Ullah (Bihar) : In Muslim law there is no adoption.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : I am not dealing with Muslim law ; I am speaking of Muslim customs. Almost every Punjabi Muslim follows custom.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : But it is so prevalent that it can be brought under this definition.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : Nobody can doubt the validity of this custom. You can take any treatise on customary law and you will find that the appointment of a heir is a customary practice.
Shri Radhelal Vyas : Is a female appointed as an heir ?
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : But she cannot become a son.
Dr. Ambedkar : In view of the fact that it has been decided to confine this Bill to marriage and divorce, the point raised by my Hon. Friend may very well come when we are dealing with the matter of adoption. There we can discuss this question as to whether we can include what he calls an appointed son in the definition of adopted son. There, if he is able to satisfy that custom is a custom which this House should permit, in view of the definition which we have just now passed, we will consider that question. Here we are for the moment dealing with marriage and divorce.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : But you have used the word “son” here ; otherwise there will be no need for any definition.
Dr. Ambedkar : As you know in the Chapter on Adoption, we have tried to introduce a uniform system, we are not recognising any of the variants of adoption. We say that adoption should be one common system throughout. We have also said there that so far as the ceremonies of adoption are concerned, they may be different. We do not bother about it. If the appointment of a son is satisfactory from the point of view of the deifnition of adoption, namely, the giving and the taking, the putting of the sugar in the mouth of the boy and the performance of some sacrifice, well the particular ceremonies by which they do it will not make the appointed son an adopted son.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : Unfortunately, I have not been able to express myself in a way as to carry conviction to Dr. Ambedkar.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : The point raised by Pandit Bhargava has relevance to marriage as well.
Dr. Ambedkar : I am afraid, without a perfect understanding of the custom, I am not able to come to any decision—the circumstances,