POLITICAL SCIENCE PROJECT

UNIFORM CIVIL CODE

By: Piyush Maan Dev, Linisha Saunakiya, Ishaan Sharma,Vrinda Sharma and Sanskriti
Sinha
 INTRODUCTION

• A Uniform Civil Code refers to a unitary system of personal laws applicable to

all irrespective of religion.

• Matters under the scope of personal laws include marriage, divorce, maintenance,
inheritance, adoption, and succession of the property.

• The only state in India with a UCC is Goa, which retained its common family law, known
as the Goa Civil Code after it was liberated from Portuguese rule in 1961.

• The rest of India follows different personal laws based on religious or community identity.

• Currently, not only Muslims but also Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis, and Jews are
governed by their laws.
 BACKGROUND

• The Lex Loci Report of October 1840 emphasised the importance and necessity of uniformity in
codification of Indian law, relating to crimes, evidences and contract but it recommended that personal
laws of Hindus and Muslims should be kept outside such codification
• Throughout the country, there was a variation in preference for scriptural or customary laws because in
many Hindu and Muslim communities, these were sometimes at conflict
• Muslim personal laws (Shariat based) had no uniformity in its application at lower courts and was
severely restricted because of bureaucratic procedures. This led to the customary law, which was often
more discriminatory against women, to be applied over it.
• Due to pressure from the Muslim elite, the Shariat law of 1937 was passed which stipulated that all
Indian Muslims would be governed by Islamic laws on marriage, divorce, maintenance, adoption,
succession and inheritance.
• The codification of Hindu laws in modern India began under British rule, particularly during the 19th and
20th centuries, as part of efforts to establish a uniform legal system
• Key figures include: Warren Hastings, Henry T Colebrook and BN Rau.
 ADVOCACY OF UCC

• Equality and Justice:

• Women's Rights
• Socioeconomic Integration
• Legal Clarity and Simplification
• Progressive Modernization
• Supreme Court has called for UCC many times
• Goa is one great example to prove the success of Uniform Civil Code
 ARGUMENTS AGAINST UCC

• It is often argued that State cannot frame and implement a policy which takes away or abridges
the Fundamental Rights of citizen.
• Those who argue against the Uniform Civil Code are of the opinion that matters like marriage,
divorce, maintenance, succession and so on are religious affairs and the Constitution guarantees
freedom of such activities and therefore a Uniform Civil Code will be a violation of it.
• Another argument against immediate introduction of Uniform Civil Code is that India is a land of
vast culture and diversity and it is very easy to initiate communal disharmony based on religious
and social differences.
• The Uttarakhand UCC Bill had met with opposition from women’s rights activists and opposition
MLAs even as it was introduced.
• The UCC has also come under attack for leaving the Scheduled Tribes (STs) out of its ambit and its
targeting of Muslims.
• Privacy matters
• Buckling under social tyranny
 POLITICAL MOTIVE

• The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has long advocated for the implementation of
the UCC.
• Since coming to power in 2014, PM Narendra Modi’s government has
consistently stressed the importance of the UCC. Initiatives such as the
abrogation of Article 370 and the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya
have been significant campaign points for the BJP.
• Aam Aadmi Party (AAP): AAP has expressed "in-principle" support for the UCC.
• Hindu Nationalist Parties like Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Rashtriya Swamsevak
Sangh are increasingly supportive of Uniform Civil Code.
• BJP and RSS might support it because of their identity as Hindu nationalist
parties, irrespective of their level of extremity.
• Parties like AAP may support it because of their liberal identity and UCC can
prove to be a modernised approach to personal laws.
 ANALYSIS: PROBLEM IN-DEPTH

• Would the Muslim community accept laws that a Hindu-majority government is making?
• The BJP Government actively supports Hindutva. The Prime Minister himself has made
indirect but rude and unprofessional comments about the Muslim community.
• Then why would the Muslim community accept these new laws? What mechanism is
there to address their grievances and complaints?
• how would the Muslims accept this initiative and have faith in the system when every
year there is a new type of Hindu bias and communalistic arrogance exhibited by the
ruling party?
• UCC lacks a complaint mechanism and an initiative to develop public faith.
• These problems make us think of whether UCC is even practical in a nation like this, and
should the country wait for larger cultural shifts in the future where this policy could be
accepted.
 LANDMARK CASES

• In 1985, the Supreme Court ruled that Shah Bano was entitled to maintenance under
section 125. A year later, the Rajiv Gandhi-led government enacted the Muslim Women
(Protection of Rights Under Divorce) Act. Under it, Muslim women were entitled to
maintenance for three months, following which it was incumbent upon their relatives and
heirs to support them.
• In Danial Latifi, the Court tried to address this tension by interpreting Islamic family law in a
way that struck a balance between promoting equality for Muslim women, while avoiding
fundamentally altering the status of Muslim personal law in India.
• The court criminalized triple talaq as it violated the right to equality of women. The court
referenced to Article 44 of the DPSP which talks about UCC. They made a genuine and
persuasive recommendation for the implementation of a fair and just code.
• The court also made similar recommendations in the case of Sarla Mugdal in 1995, that also
gained political and legal controversy. It also raised the same questions that we looked at in
the previous topic.
 CONCLUSION

• UCC is a debatable and complex issue that requires debate and deliberation.
• Political controversy should not make us scrap UCC or consider it ‘Orwellian’ or Totalitarian.
• It is simply fair criticism that is required in this matter, as criticism brings questions and facilitates
debate.
• The policy should be treated seriously, and it is not something that can be implemented in a whim. It
should be a long, time consuming and slow process.