{"id":249453,"date":"2023-06-24T20:10:48","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T14:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=249453"},"modified":"2023-08-31T16:29:02","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T10:59:02","slug":"strike-a-fine-balance-have-a-just-civil-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/strike-a-fine-balance-have-a-just-civil-code\/","title":{"rendered":"Strike a fine balance, have a just civil code"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cStrike a fine balance, have a just civil code\u201d <\/strong>published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d <\/strong>on 24th June 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus:<\/strong> GS1- Social empowerment. GS2- Indian polity<\/p>\n

Relevance-<\/strong> Issues related to secularism and gender justice<\/p>\n

News- <\/strong>On June 14, the Law Commission of India decided to solicit views and proposals from the public about the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).<\/p>\n

Why is the issue of personal laws and UCC related to the question of personal and religious autonomy versus the state\u2019s authority?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Each religious group has cultural autonomy<\/strong>. So, the community should itself seek reforms. This is the justification for the adoption of internal law reform or voluntary UCC.<\/strong> Article 29(1) of the Indian constitution <\/strong>also conserves the distinctive culture<\/strong> of all citizens.<\/p>\n

In fact, the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and the Indian Succession Act, 1925<\/strong> are nothing but examples of voluntary adoption of the UCC.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are also regional differences<\/strong>. Kerala had abolished the Hindu Joint Family in 1975.<\/strong>\u00a0 Muslim marriage and divorces are to be registered in Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand under the 1876 law, and in Assam under 1935 law.<\/p>\n

At present, not just Muslims but even Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis, and Jews are governed by their own personal laws.<\/p>\n

It is the religious identity<\/strong> that determines which personal law would apply to a group of individuals. Even reformed Hindu Personal Law under the Hindu Marriage Act<\/strong>, 1955 does insist on solemnization of marriage<\/strong>, through seven steps around fire.<\/p>\n

What are the points that should be considered by the Law Commission while deciding about UCC?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unity rather than uniformity<\/strong>– The Commission must consider the fact that India is a diverse and multicultural polity<\/strong>. The proposed UCC must reflect India\u2019s \u2018mosaic model\u2019 of multiculturalism. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Under the Indian Constitution, the right to cultural autonomy<\/strong> defends the Indian model of multiculturalism.<\/strong><\/p>\n

India\u2019s multicultural diversity<\/strong> is at the crossroads with values such as secularism<\/strong>. India decided not to adopt the French model of secularism<\/strong>. Indian society \u2018accommodates\u2019 and not just \u2018tolerates\u2019<\/strong> the wide array of group and ethnic differences.<\/p>\n

A homogenising lithification of identities <\/strong>should not be preferred. Unity is far more important than uniformity<\/strong>. The British brought homogeneity amongst Hindus and Muslims by undermining heterogeneity<\/strong> within the two religious’ communities.<\/p>\n

Focus on gender justice<\/strong>– 21st Law Commission<\/strong> had favoured equality between men and women<\/strong> in communities rather than equality between communities<\/strong>. A just code <\/strong>should be the primary goal<\/strong> as just laws<\/strong> are more important than one uniform law.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Multiculturalism cannot justify the continuation of unjust and discriminatory personal laws<\/strong>. Such provisions of the personal laws must be made consistent with substantive equality and gender justice goals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Accommodation of different viewpoints<\/strong>– There is need to understand that when a community feels threatened, community allegiance<\/strong> becomes much stronger.<\/p>\n

Therefore, the Law Commission of India <\/strong>should not contribute to the rise of reactive culturalism <\/strong>amongst different communities in India, including Muslims.<\/p>\n

The Muslim community too must understand that the MPL and Islam<\/strong> are not one and the same. The MPL<\/strong> is a jurist given law and is not entirely divine<\/strong>. It is more appropriate to call it Anglo-Muhammadan law.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cStrike a fine balance, have a just civil code\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 24th June 2023. Syllabus: GS1- Social empowerment. GS2- Indian polity Relevance- Issues related to secularism and gender justice News- On June 14, the Law Commission of India decided to solicit views and proposals… Continue reading Strike a fine balance, have a just civil code<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,225,10498],"class_list":["post-249453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-polity","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}