Delhi (AsiaNews) – Shiite clerics are looking into a new type of marriage contract that could soon grant Muslim women in India the right to divorce their husbands.

The All India Shia Personal Law Board – AISPLB, the highest legal authority for Shiite Indians – has proposed a new form of nikahnama [marriage contract that stipulates recourse to a religious court to resolve marital disputes] that concedes new rights to women in marriage.

Maulana Mirza Mohammad Athar, AISPLB president, said the proposal will "give details of legal action that can be taken by men and women and about compensation to be paid in case of divorce."

Athar continued: "So far, women could not divorce: we will give them this right, if the proposal is accepted by legal experts, including high court judges."

The nikahnama proposal will be presented at the second annual session of the AISPLB, to be held on 26 November in Mumbai, when delegates will vote on it.

Leaked extracts of the draft contract reveal that the option of divorce will be open to women who are tortured "mentally or physically", who are abandoned or were deceived into marriage.

Although the proposal has been widely welcomed, there are many critics. Among them is the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board, an organization for Indian Muslim women, which said: "They called many experts, but not even one woman."