DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 1285
plight but I want to point out that a young widow has remained an unknown thing to our society from times immemorial. Our society does not know the name of a young widow, because it is a custom in our community that when the husband of a woman dies, then after a year of his death the brothers and parents of the widow and the relations of her late husband meet together and in spite of the shyness, as is common everywhere in our Hindu society, and against her formal wish, that she would herself bear the distress that has befallen her, and in spite of her refusal, she is told that this is not possible. It may be said that her ideal is good, but how many people are there who can follow such a high ideal ? The people of our society doubt whether such a lofty ideal which you are going to establish in our society would not create any evil in our [-] society. Therefore, you should recognise our simple custom of remarriage and not invalidate it. So I wanted to support the proposition laid down by Shri Bhatt. Now I mention the reasons for that.
On the one hand where your rules and regulations wanted to reduce the troubles of our womenfolk, and they have reduced them to a great extent, on the other hand their troubles have been increased manifold. And that is because you have given them a sort of right to marry wherever they want. In the ordinary way, if no extraordinary trouble arises it would easily become a custom that they could remarry, but why do you lay dow this restriction ? Generally people are not bigamous of their own will but they are forced by circumstances. If a brother dies, his brother has to concede to the custom of bigamy against his wishes.
Shrimati Dixit: I want to ask you a question. There is a woman, who has got four or six children, there is her husband’s brother’s wife, she also has got four or six children. If they are made to live together would not the co-wifely feeling create trouble between them ? Is it not unjustifiable on principle to force a woman to marry another man against her wishes ?
Sardar Hukam Singh (Punjab) : By the will of god.
Ch. Ranbir Singh : If you mean remarriage by that, I would say no : remarriage is possible only when it is regularly sanctioned by society, but there are many women who cannot express their desire. After thirteen or fourteen days of his wife’s death a man may express it, but the women cannot do so due to the peculiar set-up of our society such a thing is impossible, and ample time is required to change that.