AUTHOR- Drishti Gupta, a student at Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies
INTRODUCTION-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Madhya Pradesh on 27 June 2023 thrust conversations about the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) into the limelight, driving civil debates on its implicit perpetration as he believes it’ll help women get there long due rights.
Following this, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on July 8 blazoned that the UCC would be executed in the state once its draft commission submits the report. Bhartiya Janata Party’s assertive station on the UCC and to abolish particular laws concerning marriage, divorce, heritage of property and conservation is central to their 2024 general choices.
Though sympathizers of UCC believe it’ll lead to public integration, gender equivalency and justice. Still, the contrary station believe that UCC, that is, a invariant particular law might not lead to unified nation and will erode boundaries of forbearance despite being non cognizable and will be a trouble to the religious freedom and diversity.
The UCC offer has suffered a lot of counterreaction from orthodox Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and other nonages whose traditions and customs are the same from numerous decades and indeed centuries. The Constituent Assembly of India wasn’t suitable to resolve the riddle it poses and included it in the Directive Principle of State Policy rather than a Fundamental Right.
WHAT IS UCC?
UCC is concentrated on creating a harmonious legal frame that applies to all individuals, irrespective of their religious beliefs and particular laws, with the end of promoting equivalency. Composition 44 in the Directive Principles of State Policy of the Constitution of India, state’ the State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a invariant civil law throughout the home of India.’
That is, the state can only endeavor to achieve a common law among its citizens rather than apply it. The Constituent Assembly left it to the discretion of the government to apply UCC and fete the perceptivity and complexity of the issue at that time only. Though, over the times numerous governments have bandied and batted the perpetration of UCC, it’s still a sensitive content in the politics and the society.
But critics point that the perpetration of UCC violates the Fundamental Rights, Article 25 and 29 of the Constitution of India. Composition 25 addresses freedom to profess and exercise one’s religion and composition 29 addresses the right to have distinct culture.
There are numerous cases in India where the Supreme Court appertained composition 44 and conception of UCC, to punctuate the informal station of the superintendent and the council in the perpetration of directives.
In India, the only state with UCC is Goa, which retains the common family law known as Goa Civil Code after being liberated from Portuguese rule in 1961 and the rest of India follows different particular laws grounded on their religious and community identity. But indeed this law isn’t all livery as it has special provision for different communities.
The particular laws were framed during the British Raj in India, substantially for Hindu and Muslim citizens. The British didn’t want to intrude in the domestic sphere of the community and have a counterreaction, therefore, they didn’t oppose having a particular law. With India’s independence, Hindu Code bills were introduced which were codified and reformed particular laws in colorful sets in Indian religion like Buddhist, Hindu, Jains and Sikhs but exempted Christians, Jews, Muslim and Parsis, and linked them different from the community of Hindus.
UCC’s significance in India surfaced from the Shah Bano case in 1985, which raised numerous questions on the laws applicable to citizens without curtailing abecedarian right to exercise religious functions.
PERSONAL LAWS-
There are numerous persuasions with their own particular laws in India of marriage, divorce, conservation, child guardianship, relinquishment, heritage and property rights.
The Hindu Personal laws are from the ancient religious textbook and customs. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 governs marriage and divorce among Hindus, Hindu Succession Act, 1956 deals with heritage, with giving women equal right to inherit property from their parents as the Hindu men.
The Muslim Personal law in India is grounded on the Sharia. That is, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 regulates matters related to marriage, divorce, heritage and conservation among Muslims.
For the Christians, Parsis and Jews in India, the Indian Succession Act, 1925 applies. Christian women admit a destined share grounded on the presence of children or other cousins. Parsi widows admit an equal share as their children, with half of the child’s share going to the departed’s parents if they’re alive.
WHY IS UCC CONTROVERSIAL IN INDIA?
India is a religiously and culturally rich country, home of numerous persuasions with their own customs, traditions and particular laws. With the UCC, it challenges diversity and challenges the individual religious laws with same laws for all. The UCC challenges the artistic fabric of the country and bumps the religious freedom of its citizens. Also, the perpetration of UCC will be a clumsy task, the artistic differences from state to state and community to community is also a interference to the unified particular law.
Critics argue that with UCC the unique rights and protections enjoyed by the nonage groups are challenged and erode artistic autonomy. But in a pluralistic society similar as India, guarding nonage rights and conserving distinct practices is considered pivotal.
The vote banks and the political computations take priority over a genuine discussion on the graces and downsides of the UCC. Each political party wants to win the choices and therefore they don’t want to indulge in the sensitive content of religion and the impact on the nonage community and hinder their winnings in the choices.
Sympathizers of UCC state that it’ll lead to an equal society irrespective of the demarcation on base of gender and religion. Common law will insure equal rights in matters of marriage, divorce, heritage and conservation. But the critics state that gender equivalency can be achieved in particular laws as well.
Numerous feels that the common law will foster public integration by sense of concinnity among the religious communities of India and strengthen temporal fabric of India. Critics say that UCC is largely complex and sensitive because of the religious beliefs and customs in India.
The question on republic of India plays an important part too, the citizens in a republic have the right to exercise, propagate and profess their own religion and freedom of religion of one’s choice as given by the constitution, and with the UCC the critics state the government is principally taking away their right to decide their religion.
Critics also point out that the people from different communities would not be willing to borrow temporal laws by the government. Every religious authority will say that they’ve the right to decide colorful issues as a matter of particular laws and not agree with the invariant law passed by the government.
NEED FOR UCC-
In India, we’ve followed picky denomination till now, that is, we’re temporal in some areas and not in some other. With the UCC all Indian would have to follow same laws irrespective of their religion. This would be a fair and real denomination. People still can follow their religion as they did ahead, but they just would be equal in every sense which is better in all senses.
Everyone will be treated equal for the tasks they do, before with the particular laws, Muslims could marry multiple times in India but if Hindus or Christian marry multiple women at the same time they would have been fulfilled.
A UCC will help in perfecting the conditions of women in India. The patriarchal society of India with old religious rules manhandled and dominated women, the invariant law will help in changing these age-old tradition and women will be treated fairly and given equal rights.
Every ultramodern progressive nation has an invariant civil law. It’s a sign that nation has moved down from estate and religious politics, the law will help society move forward and take India towards its thing of being an advanced nation.
UCC would promote public integration and denomination by creating a common identity and sense of belonging among all its citizens, it’ll reduce collaborative and insular conflicts and uphold the indigenous values of equivalency, fraternity and quality for all.
UCC will simplify and explain the legal system by removing the complications and contradictions of multiple particular laws. It’ll harmonize the civil and felonious laws by removing loopholes which arise due to the different particular laws. The law would be more accessible and accessible to the common people.
UCC will also contemporize and reform the outdated and accumulative practices that are current in some particular laws. The UCC will exclude the practices that are against mortal rights and values of the Constitution of India and accommodate the changing social realities and bourns of the people.
CONCLUSION-
India is a temporal nation, for them there’s an equivalency of all the persuasions before the law. India is a country with its age-old traditions, customs, and religious laws.
The arguments for UCC are its citation in Composition 44 of the Constitution of India, gender equivalency and reforming the patriarchal particular laws. Demanding a UCC in a country like India can be seen negatively by the religious authorities because of identity politics.
Legal experts and right groups suggest amending gender discriminative laws, rather than enforcing a UCC like the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 which applies to women of all communities. A former judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Krishna Murari on 17 July 2023 said,’ uniformity in anyway is salutary but before enforcing UCC large scale reflections and consultations with the general public should take place.’
Though on one hand, a UCC will lead to equivalency and real denomination in the country, on the other hand it’ll lead to demurrers and loss in trust on the republic of India.
Bhartiya Janata Party is seen as utmost of the most prominent supporter of UCC but they’ve opposition from their own abettors in the National Democratic Alliance, UCC is also opposed by numerous NGOs and associations. A Nagaland grounded group advised that they would burn houses of 600 lawmakers in the state if UCC is enforced in the state, saying it’ll erode original customs and traditions of lines.
But according to numerous, UCC is of an absolute necessity for individual belonging to the different persuasions and appellations. It’s imperative for the creation of public concinnity and solidarity. The divergent religious testaments must combine and crown into common and unified principles and objects, clinging to the true spirit of denomination.
After 75 times of independence the aspiration of a UCC is material to India. But the emphasis of BJP on UCC raises numerous questions. If the thing is to promote public integration by barring adherence to longstanding customs, will any community be willing to make concessions on their traditions? If the end is to address discriminative practices against women, why not reform the particular laws that are being misinterpreted? and most importantly how would the government of India unify the people of India with this law?
