Deliberations on Uniform Civil Code

Why in the News?

Key Points:

About Uniform Civil Code:

• Article 44 defines that the state shall implement a Uniform Civil Code for all the citizens throughout the territory of India.
• It calls for enacting one law for India, which will be applicable to all religious communities.
• Presently, various laws regulate matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption for followers of different religions and a UCC is planned to get away with these inconsistent personal laws.
  • These laws include the Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu Succession Act, Indian Christian Marriages Act, Indian Divorce Act, and Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act.
• It will ease the laws around marriages, inheritance, succession, and adoptions making them equal for all.
• The uniform civil law will then be applicable to all citizens irrespective of their faith.
• The Constitution’s framers prefer the terminology “uniform” in Article 44 and not “common”, because “common” means “one and the same in all circumstances”, while “uniform” means “the same in similar conditions”

Genesis of the Uniform Civil Code:

• The genesis of the UCC dates back to colonial India when the British government submitted its report in 1835 stressing the requirement for uniformity in the codification of Indian law.
• An increase in legislation dealing with personal issues in the fag end of British rule forced the government to constitute the B N Rau Committee in 1941 to codify Hindu law.
  • The mandate of the Hindu Law Committee was to examine the question of the necessity of common Hindu laws.
• The committee, keeping in mind scriptures, recommended a codified Hindu law, which would grant equal rights to women.
• The 1937 Act was examined and the committee suggested a civil code of marriage and succession for Hindus.

Need for Uniform Civil Code:

• In Conformity With Present: There has been a steep rise in inter-community, inter-caste and interfaith marriages and relationships; thereby the implementation of UCC will be in conformity with the changing times.
• Boosting National Integration: UCC would help the cause of national integration by removing ideological contradictions due to religious affiliations.
• In Sync with the Constitutional Values: Our Preamble has envisaged a secular polity, thereby all citizens need a common law irrespective of their religious beliefs.
• Checkmating Vote Bank Politics: UCC will make a dent in the religious nexus of the Political system which is often used to garner votes in elections.

Uniform Civil Code & fundamental rights:

• Article 25 states an individual’s fundamental right to religion; Article 26(b) recognises the right of each religious denomination or any section thereof to “manage its own affairs in matters of religion”.
• Article 29 defines the right to conserve distinctive culture. An individual’s freedom of religion under Article 25 is subject to “public order, health, morality” and other provisions relating to fundamental rights, but a group’s freedom under Article 26 has not been subjected to other fundamental rights.
• There were differences in the Constituent Assembly on the issue of putting the Uniform Civil Code in the fundamental rights chapter.
• However, the matter was settled by a 5:4 majority, the fundamental rights sub-committee headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
  • The Committee held that the provision was not under the ambit of fundamental rights and therefore the Uniform Civil Code was made less important than freedom of religion.

Inherent Challenges to UCC:

• Communal Politics: It may lead to or can give a perspective of majoritarianism under the guise of taking out social reform.
• Constitutional Hurdle: Article 25 which seeks to preserve the freedom to practise and propagate any religion gets into conflict with the concept of equality given under Article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

Indian Judiciary Stand on UCC:

• In the Shah Bano case, the Supreme Court had outlined that a common civil code will further national integration by removing disparate loyalties to laws having conflicting ideologies. It had been observed that the state was charged with the duty of securing a UCC for citizens.
• In Sarla Mudgal Vs Union of India (1995), the SC opined that marriage solemnized under the ambit of Hindu law can be dissolved on grounds mentioned in the Hindu Marriage Act 1955.
  • It clearly stated that conversion to Islam and marrying again does not dissolve the Hindu marriage and so a second marriage solemnized after converting to Islam would be an offence under section 494 of the Indian Penal Code(IPC).

Way Forward:

• The requirement for a Uniform Civil Code flows from the very concept of secularism, which mandates the complete separation of religion and State.
• It need not to be emphasised that laws have to be equal for all citizens, irrespective of religion, caste or gender.
• One Way forward would be to constitute a Muslim Law Reforms Committee, Tribal and Indigenous Law Reform Committee, and Christian & Parsi Law Reforms Committees. Based on their suggestions, the Centre could take the reforms process forward.
• UCC should ideally be implemented in a phased manner rather than adopting a hasty approach.