INTERNATIONAL DESK: India is observing today, August 1, as “Muslim Women’s Rights Day.” The day is observed across India to commemorate the enactment of laws that protect the rights of Muslim women.

The Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said on Saturday that Muslim women have overwhelmingly welcomed laws that make social malpractices into criminal offences. He said various Muslim organisations in India would organise programmes to mark the day.

Naqvi along with the Minister for Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, and the Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, will attend an event in New Delhi to observe the Muslim Women’s Rights Day.

He said the Narendra Modi government has “strengthened self-reliance, self-respect and self-confidence” among Muslim women in India and protected their constitutional, fundamental and democratic rights. (Khaleej Times)