The personal laws as such were kept, rather than eliminated, as the British hoped, by doing so, to dissipate opposition to the colonial project by yielding to religious claims (Mullally 2004: 676). But, on the other hand, the colonisers modified and unified some religion-based practices through legislation where the practices were found particularly unjust, “backward” or “barbaric” and where there was (alleged) support of the local elite or some local reformers. Furthermore, they certainly shaped the law through interpretation by British judges