11 Nov 2024        11:54:56 am

Political

Uniform Civil Code (UCC)

Tags : Uniform Civil Code (UCC)

Topic: Governance

Why in the news?

• Uttarakhand panel frames UCC rules, to allow digital registration of marriages and live-in relationships
• The Rules Making & Implementation Committee, which along with its sub-committees has held over 130 meetings since it was set up in February, has framed a 500-page report and will submit it to the state government soon.

Source: The Indian Express

About Uniform Civil Code (UCC)

• It refers to a single law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc.
• It is intended to replace the system of fragmented personal laws, which currently govern interpersonal relationships and related matters within different religious communities.
• Article 44 of the Constitution lays down that the State shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens throughout the territory of India.
  • Article 44 is a Directive Principle mentioned in Part-IV of the Constitution.
• Present Status of Personal Laws in India:
  • Personal law subjects such as marriage, divorce, inheritance come under the Concurrent list of the Constitution. Both, the Parliament and state legislature can make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the Concurrent List.
  • The Hindu personal laws have been codified into four parts by the Parliament in 1956:
    • The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
    • The Hindu Succession Act, 1956
    • The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956
    • The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956

The term ‘Hindu’ also includes Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists for the purpose of these laws.

• Muslim personals laws are not codified per se, and are based on their religious texts, though certain aspects of these are expressly recognised in acts such as the Shariat Application Act, 1937 and Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 and Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019.
• Christians, Zoroastrians and Jews are also governed by their own personal laws.
• Exception of Goa: 
  • Presently, Goa is the only state with a uniform civil code.
  • The Portuguese Civil Code of 1867, which continues to be implemented after India annexed the territory in 1961, applies to all Goans, irrespective of their religious or ethnic community.
• Need for a Uniform Civil Code in India:
  • It would provide equal status to all citizens irrespective of the community they belong to.
  • Personal laws of different religions are widely divergent and there is no consistency in how issues like marriage, succession and adoption are treated for people belonging to different communities, which is contradictory to Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees Equality before the Law.
  • Personal laws, because they derive from tradition and custom, also tend to give undue advantage to men. This becomes evident as Muslim men being allowed to marry multiple wives, but women being forbidden from having multiple husbands.

Men (fathers) are also treated as ‘natural guardians’ and are given preference under the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act.

• A UCC could lead to consistency and gender equality in India.
• Criticism of Uniform Civil Code:
  • Although it reinforces equality before the law, its the idea clashes with the Right to Freedom of Religion, provided under Article 25 of the Constitution.
  • Separate personal laws are the ways in which people have exercised their right to practice their own religion, which has been particularly important for minorities. The UCC could become a tool to erode this right, suppress minorities and homogenize culture.

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