India is a country of many diversities and that is indeed our strength, but you can’t use them to justify injustices. How does diversity explain a man taking multiple wives? How does it explain a woman being denied ancestral wealth, or child marriages? The point is beliefs and customs should not violate your rights, no matter which religion you belong to. The hope is UCC can remedy that.
But firstly, what is Uniform Civil Code?
The uniform civil code which comes under article 44 of the Indian constitution, proposes to introduce personal laws that would apply to all citizens equally. irrespective of people’s gender, caste, religion, etc.
Let’s take criminal laws for example, if a person in India commits a crime, criminal laws apply the same to all different communities irrespective of their religion, caste, gender. But, India’s personal laws like marriage, inheritance, succession, adoption apply differently to every religion.
Let’s take a few examples;
SECTION494 IPC, now covered under Section 82 of the BNS, states that while having a living spouse, If someone does a second marriage, then it is a crime. but there is one exception, Muslim men are allowed to have up to four wives under sharia Islamic laws.
Also, Hindu women get an equal share in property while Muslim women compared to male relative can inherit less than half the share of property.
Indian law prescribes a uniform age for marriage for all religions which is 18 years for women and 21 years for men. if someone marries under the prescribed age it is considered child marriage and is prohibited.
Uttarakhand adopting UCC
Uttarakhand adopted the uniform civil code recently, this year. The move by Uttarakhand will ban polygamy, set a minimum marriageable age for genders, guarantee equal rights to men and women on issues pertaining to divorce, adoption, ancestral property, set new rules for live-in relationships, which includes any child of a live-in relationship will be legitimate and woman will be entitled maintenance. The law prohibits a person from marrying relatives, which is allowed in many communities.
Is Uttarakhand First state to implement UCC?
Even though Uttarakhand is the first state to properly implement UCC but a version of it already exists in Goa. Goa follows Portugal Civil Code of 1867 which was amended in country in 1966.
Some Important Case Laws;
State Of Bombay V. Narasu Appa 1952
In this case, a man was punished for bigamy (getting married twice). The man (convict) said that this law is against my religion because I didn’t have a son from my first wife and according to my religion if my last rites are not performed by my son i will not get salvation. The Hindu religion at that time stated that if you are not getting a son from your first wife you can do second marriage. The court rejectedall arguments, declared the act invalid and punished the man for bigamy.
Shayara Bano V. Uoi 2017 (Triple Talaq Case)
In this case, Shayara Bano’s husband pronounced triple talaq and divorced her. Against which Shayara Bano filed a writ petition in supreme court and challenged three practices of muslim law, 1. Nikah Halala, 2. Talaq e biddat, 3. Polygamy saying that these three practices are derogatory and discriminatory. In this case supreme court with the mojrity of 3:2 declared triple talaq unconstitutional.
Is UCC a threat to minorities?
With the arrival of UCC, there is no danger to diversity. for example uniformity doesn’t mean everyone has to follow law of one particular religion or take “7 rounds (pheras)” to get married. Uniformity in the sense of marriage can mean that from now on everyone will have to register their marriage. And we already have a lot of uniform laws like constitution.
UCC aims to formulate and implement personal laws of people which apply to all citizens equally, regardless of their religion. People in favor of UCC say it will increase uniformity and help in upliftment of women and minorities. People against it argue that UCC aims to impose the Hindu majority views on minorities of India.
We have to understand that constitution is supreme and problematic personal laws have to be changed according to constitution not the other way around.
This issue is contentious, but it doesn’t mean we should abandon it. “Mature countries don’t run away from tough issues, they confront them, they debate them and finally they reach consensus, India should do the same in UCC.” as quoted by Palki Sharma, a journalist on Firstpost.
UCC is not a religious debate, in simple words it is elimination of discriminatory laws.
Author Name- Aprajita Srivastava is a B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at NMIMS, Bangalore.
