Uniform Civil Code is one of the three most controversial issues which right wingers think should be implemented while liberals see it as a threat to communal harmony of India. The other two issues are construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and abolition of Article 370. All three issues are part of world’s largest party, BJP, core ideology and remain part of their election manifesto.
Uniform civil code is the proposal to replace the personal laws based on scriptures and customs of each major religious community in India with a common law. It should be distinguished from currently implemented public law. It will cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance.
The Constitution of India, under Article 44, directs the government as follows: “The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.” But because of fear of losing Muslim votes, no Indian government has ever made an attempt to draft Uniform Civil Code. There are some technical contradictions as well, such as, Article 44 clashes with Article 25, assuring the freedom to propagate religion.
Currently, when India have Bhartiya Janta Party which principally supports Uniform Civil Code in power, the discussion on UCC is very much in public domain. The basic moot points are Triple Talaq, a quick divorce option for Muslim men, and polygamy, an Islamic custom which permits to have more than one wife or husband at the same time. The latter is strongly opposed by pro-Hindutva voices as they believe this a provision through which Muslims reproduce faster than Hindus and at some point Muslims could become a majority. But data suggests the incidence of polygamy is actually higher among Hindus than Muslims.
From time to time, the demand for a common civil code is renewed. This happened 30 years ago, at the time of the Shah Bano case, and it is now happening again in response to the case of Shayara Bano, who appealed to the Supreme Court to have the pernicious practice of ‘triple talaq’ abolished. And this time, the mood of country is looking less tolerant against the existing gender gaps, particularly where personal laws and religion are concerned.
The issue of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is more about values existing within communities and not about their lifestyle and identities – that is what Tufail Ahmad, executive director of Open Source Institute, a Delhi-based think tank, feels. But that cannot be accepted as true in some senses. Almost six decades ago, The Special Marriage Act 1954 was enacted by Parliament of India to provide a special form of marriage for the people of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrespective of the religion or faith followed by either party. However since its inception, very few people have registered their marriage in accordance to that. As Indian right wingers are pushing for UCC, even they have failed to accept something similar which has already been part of Indian constitution.
When Hindu Code Bill was introduced, the extreme right wingers, who are demanding Uniform Civil Law now, actually opposed The Special Marriage Act including the then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad. The UCC has to be divided into three different parts and the problem which still persist in it is about gender justice. Also, it majorly consists of Hindu ritual which makes it unacceptable to other communities.
Same goes with Muslim acts as well, every state has its own marriage act. For instance Kashmir’s Muslim marriage act is very much different from Uttar Pradesh’s Muslim marriage act and in similar way Hyderabad’s and Madras marriage acts are different too for Muslims. And other than that, we do have different marriage acts for Christians, Persians, etc. That sjows how complicated this issue is. During the debate on this matter in the Constitution Assembly, Dr Ambedkar said “It will be foolish for any government to impose such laws against the wish of people”.
One issue which is doing rounds at public forums is about its terminology as well. Many people have recommended to call it Common Civil Code rather than Uniform Civil Code as Article 14 of our Constitution says “Un-equals cannot have same laws”, Its just like saying un-equals cannot be treated as alike and equals will be treated as alike.
This discussion is endless and it will be better if government put a draft in public domain for further discussion. It will help everyone to focus on intended points only.
Note: This article was first published in LokMarg.
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