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publication of Hari Singh Gour's (1869-1949) The Hindu Code in 1919, the Jaina Mītra Mandal in Delhi, also a Digambara organization, created the Jain Law Society under the leadership of the Barristers Jagmander Lal Jaini (1881-1927) and Champat Ray Jain (1867-1942) to refute the "misrepresentations" of Jainism in this text, whose second edition was amended accordingly. In due course the society intended, after due search of the sästric literature, to give a definite shape to Jaina Law. The result of this collective effort was C. R. Jain's (1926) compilation Jaina law with (reprints of) text translations of treatises on personal law by both Digambara and Svetämbara authors, which almost certainly influenced the outcome of the landmark judgment Gateppa v. Eramma (1927 AIR Madras 228) which concluded that Jains are not 'Hindu dissenters' but followers of an independent religion. The Census is still the only government institution which recognises Jains as an independent group.
The legal status of the Jaina laity continued to be disputed until Indian Independence. However, the Privy Council decision on Bhagawandas Tejmal v. Rajmal effectively sealed the legal position of the Jainas in India today. Its decision that the Jainas come under codified 'Hindu law' dominated the case law until 1955/6 when 'Jaina law' was officially subsumed under the new statutory 'Hindu Code' (which grants the same rights to widows as the Jaina texts centuries ago) with the dispensation that Hindu law is to be applied to Jainas in the absence of proof of special customs.22 Article 25 (2) b Explanation II of the Constitution of India recognises Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists as separate religious groups, but subsumes them into 'Hindu' law, as do Sections 2 of the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 and the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, as well as the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act of 1956.
rights, position, past or prospects. But it is pleasant to notice and emphasize that with every awakening or half awakening of India, the Jainas kept admirable pace. The nation had its Congress and Social and Educational Conferences, the Jainas at once had their All-India Digambara Jaina Mahasabha, Svetambar and Sthanakvasi Conferences, Boarding Houses, Schools, newspapers, memorials, etc., etc., the whole paraphernalia of modern so-called enlightenment and progress." (J. L. Jaini 1921: 2f.).
21 See J. L. Jaini's 1921 pamphlet, which states: "Further the assumption that Hindu Law applies to Jainas is absolutely illegal, as it is against statute law. (See 21 George III C. 70 S. 17; Sir William Jones on 19th March 1788 in Digest of Hindu Law by Colebrooke, in preface pp. v-vi.; 37 George III C. 142; Sir M. E. Smith in 4 Calcutta (Indian Law Reports) at p. 751; 29 Allahabad (I.L.R.) 495.)" (J. L. Jaini 1921: 8). "Dr Gour has erred in not distinguishing between caste and religion" (ib.).
22 See the publication of the Jain Seva Mandal Nagpur 1945 for Jain discussions and objections to the Draft Hindu Code.
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