Article 44 of the Constitution which talks of a Uniform Civil Court for all Indians was the subject of a recent debate. As it’s like a long delayed dream to uniform Civil Code (UCC) in India. And now it looks like the courts can hardly cover up their impatience. A Supreme Court bench, hearing a case on a Hindu woman's petition on legacy, was lately stimulated into ordering an examination of practices like polygamy and triple talaq in Muslim personal law, which it declared "harmful to public morals". Where BJP claiming that the UCC as a burning priority, The National Capital is already on a deadline from another SC bench to present its view on the UCC.
The today’s burning agenda UCC was first raised on 1930s by All India Women's Conference which has several simple demands of inheritance for equal rights in marriage, divorce, adoption and succession for all women irrespective of religious laws. But as we know India is bounded in the religious customs which do not allow equal clout in the society so the Constituent Assembly left this plan to the future.
Here the question is who is the Team UCC? The Hindu right-wing, which is distressed that marginal mores continue unharmed, even though Hindu practices were painfully codified in the 1950s.Today’s people also believe that secular citizenship means strict equality before law, that the state and religion should be walled off from each other, and that India's regime of distinct personal laws, which discriminate against women in various ways, should be replaced by a fair civil code.
At this point, who is Team UCC? The Hindu right-wing, which is aggrieved that minority cultures remain unscathed, even though Hindu practices were painfully codified in the 1950s. Liberals also believe that secular citizenship means strict equality before law, that the state and religion should be walled off from each other, and that India's regime of distinct personal laws, which discriminate against women in various ways, should be replaced by a fair civil code.
India already has an optional civil code in the form of the Special Marriages Act, 1954. This, read with similar Acts such as the Indian Succession Act, 1925, provides a good legal framework for all matters of marriage, divorce, maintenance and succession for those who may wish to avoid the religion-based laws.
~ Harshita Chhetri