Taking up the cause of a woman asked by a Muslim law board to separate from her husband after being raped by her father-in-law, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday called for reforms in Muslim personal laws.

The party, which has long pushed for a uniform set of civil laws, expressed outrage at the "punishment" handed out to rape victim Imrana by Muslim clerics and asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the ruling Congress to clarify their stand on this issue.

"The Imrana case gives Indian society an opportunity to pause, think and reassert the need for personal law reforms in Islam," BJP spokesman Arun Jaitley told reporters.

Imrana, who was raped by her father-in-law this month, was directed clerics of the Darul Uloom seminary at Deoband to separate for life from her husband, who they said would be responsible for bringing up their five children.

In a related development, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) endorsed the verdict, causing widespread outrage.

Jaitley said the BJP wanted to initiate a debate on the issue, and the case provided an opportunity for reforms in Muslim personal laws by bringing these in line with constitutional guarantees to Indian citizens.

While avoiding any obvious reference to its long-held demand for a uniform civil code, he expressed concern over the "unfair pronouncements by an extra-judicial forum".

"The entire nation is concerned over recent developments in relation to the case of Imrana, a helpless victim of rape allegedly committed by her father-in-law," he said.