NEW DELHI — India's lower house of Parliament passed a bill Tuesday exempting Muslim husbands from paying alimony to their divorced wives, while outside the house, 150 women chained themselves to gates in protest.
Opposition lawmakers staged an angry walkout after the vote, and the women protesters were arrested.
The government introduced the bill following a Supreme Court ruling that a divorced Muslim cannot avoid paying alimony by invoking the Muslim sharia law of the Koran exempting him from the obligation.
