{"id":250374,"date":"2023-07-01T20:43:43","date_gmt":"2023-07-01T15:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=250374"},"modified":"2023-08-31T14:58:07","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T09:28:07","slug":"the-case-for-a-uniform-civil-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-case-for-a-uniform-civil-code\/","title":{"rendered":"The case for a Uniform Civil Code"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on the article \u201cThe case for a Uniform Civil Code<\/strong>\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d <\/strong>on 1st July 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Syllabus<\/strong>: GS 2 \u2013 Significant provisions of Indian Constitution, GS 1 \u2013 Indian Society<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: The constitutional provision for a uniform civil code (UCC) in India is a complex and sensitive matter that requires careful consideration when discussing its aims, objectives, and implementation. Unfortunately, it is often misunderstood and misrepresented, leading to widespread misconceptions.<\/p>\n

What does the Constitutional say?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Article 44<\/strong> under Part IV emphasizes the importance of a uniform, not common, civil code<\/strong> and directs the State to \u201cendeavour to secure\u201d it.<\/p>\n

When read with Article 37<\/strong>, the makers of the Constitution wanted uniformity to be gradually <\/strong>achieved through suitable amendments of existing laws and enactment of new laws<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What progress has been made in this regard?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Many new laws of general application have been enacted<\/strong> over the years \u2014 like the Special Marriage Act 1954, Dowry Prohibition Act 1961, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 etc.<\/p>\n

These laws override conflicting provisions in personal laws<\/strong> and contribute to the goal of uniformity in family laws.<\/p>\n

Amendments have also been made to various personal laws along similar lines.<\/p>\n

Is UCC incompatible with Muslim law?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is a misperception<\/strong> that UCC is a measure to abolish Muslim law<\/strong>, which is commonly viewed as outdated and discriminatory against women.<\/p>\n

In its authentic version, Islamic law is not entirely incompatible with the modern society<\/strong>. Justice Krishna Iyer had once said that Islamic law recognised the \u201csanctity of family life\u201d. The divorce law of Islam is based on the concept of irretrievable breakdown of marriage.<\/p>\n

Can the four Hindu law Acts of 1955-56 and the Special Marriage Act of 1954 become model for UCC?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Hindu law Acts of 1955-56 initially contained provisions conflicting with constitutional ideals of religious equality and gender justice<\/strong>. While recent amendments have improved the situation, there is still room for further progress.<\/p>\n

The Hindu Succession Act still differentiates the course of inheritance based on the gender<\/strong> of the deceased owner of a property. Additionally, under the adoption law, a man requires his wife’s consent<\/strong> for adopting a child, and even for giving their child for adoption to someone else, but only if the wife belongs to the same faith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

After an amendment in 1976<\/strong>, the Special Marriage Act of 1954 allowed succession to the properties of parties to civil marriages to be governed by the Hindu Succession Act<\/strong> instead of the Indian Succession Act if both parties to such a marriage are Hindu<\/strong>. This amendment did not apply to other communities, resulting in a lack of uniformity.<\/p>\n

The Special Marriage Act and the four Hindu law Acts are not applicable in certain regions<\/strong>. In these areas, local laws of foreign origin are protected by parliamentary legislation or customary laws are safeguarded by the Constitution. This situation contradicts the objective of Article 44<\/strong>, which aims for uniformity throughout the territory of India.<\/p>\n

What should be done?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A representative group of acclaimed social reformers and legal academics should produce a draft<\/strong> that is free of religious discrimination and gender inequality. It must be extended to all citizens in all parts of the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article \u201cThe case for a Uniform Civil Code\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d on 1st July 2023. Syllabus: GS 2 \u2013 Significant provisions of Indian Constitution, GS 1 \u2013 Indian Society News: The constitutional provision for a uniform civil code (UCC) in India is a complex and sensitive… Continue reading The case for a Uniform 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":[212,10500,225],"class_list":["post-250374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-indian-express","tag-polity","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250374","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=250374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250374\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}