Clamour For Uniform Civil Code

‘All communal dispute will be end , when uniform civil code become
brand’

ABSTRACT:

India Is A Democratic And Secular Country With No Official Religion. As A Result, An

Uniform Civil Code In India Is Urgently Needed Since It Will Eliminate Partiality Against
Any Gender, Caste, Religion, Or Section Of The Population.
The Implementation Of An Uniform Civil Code In India Will Help Improve The
Enforcement Of Existing Laws For Indian Citizens. The Primary Goal Of An Uniform
Civil Code In India Should Be To Eradicate Religiously Motivated Personal Laws. The
Uniform Civil Code Was First Recognised In 1930, When The All India Women's
Confrence Raised Its Voice In Support Of Equal Rights For Women, Regardless Of
Religion, In Areas Of Marriage, Divorce, And Property Inheritance. This Article Is About
The Research On The Challenges Caused By The Lack Of A Uniform Civil Code. It
Discusses The Current Difficulties Confronting The Country And How Distinct
Individuals Are Treated In Accordance With Their Respective Laws. India Is A Huge,
Multilingual, And Multireligious Country United By A Strong Sense Of National Identity.
Everyone Today Is Subject To Their Own Personal Laws In Terms Of Marriage,
Succession, Divorce, And Other Concerns. The Term "Secular" Exists In The Preamble Of
The Constitution, And Because All Citizens Are Allowed The Right To Freely Practise
Their Religion, A Secular State Is One That Does Not Interfere With People's Religious
Practises. Indian Secularism Makes It Difficult For The State To Form Alliances. Religion.
Treat All Citizens, Regardless Of Religion, In Accordance With "Sarva Dharma
Sambhav." Due To The Lack Of Social Development In Indian Society, Some Scholars
Have Stated That The "Uniform Civil Code" [Therefore Ucc And So Ucc Is Still An Issue
Of Contention In Indian Context] Is Not Suited For Application In Indian Society.
According To The Researcher, This Is Owing To The Fact That India Is A Huge Country
With A Diverse Range Of Cultures, Faiths, And So On. Ucc Compliance Could Be Viewed
As An Unnecessary State Law Demand That Would Violate A Variety Of Religious And
Cultural Practises. If Ucc Is Implemented, Tribe Unification Will Become A Problem.
Many Tribal Tribes In India Still Desire To Be Guided By Their Rituals. The Potential Of
Self-Sufficiency Secular Procedural Statutes And Other Pieces Of Legislation Give
Another Exemption To This Criterion. A Remarkable Unanimity Among The General
Public Has Recently Been Required To Impose A Ucc Across The Country

What is UCC?
The full form of UCC is Uniform Civil Code and it deals with the formulation of one
singular law for the whole nation which would deal the following aspects like marriage,
divorce, inheritance and adoption irrespective of the social, cultural and religious
background. In India, UCC is majorly discussed in the context of religion that’s why the
term ‘secular’ or ‘secularism’ is repeatedly connected with UCC.
The origin of UCC dates back to the British Colonial era, when for the first time the
officials of the British government submitted their report in 1835, which stressed on the
need for the uniformity in the codification of Indian laws relating to crimes, evidence, and
contracts. Specifically recommending that personal laws of Hindus and Muslims be kept
outside such codification.
Increase in the legislations dealing with personal issues in the far end of the British rule
created an immediate necessity for the government to form the B. N. Rau committee to
codify the Hindu law in 1941. The main objective of the committee was to examine the
question of the requirement of common laws. The committee in accordance with
scriptures, recommended a codified Hindu law, which would give equal rights to women.
In 1937 the act was reviewed and the committee recommended a civil code of marriage
and succession for Hindus.
Looking into the Indian Constitution, we find the presence of UCC under Article 44 of
Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV).
Article 44 states- “The state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil
Code throughout the territory of India.”
The main reason behind the inclusion of UCC in Article 44 was to address the
discrimination against vulnerable groups across country. However, it was very vigilantly
included in Directive Principles which ensured the suggestive nature of UCC. The reason
behind this instance of the Constitutional Assembly was given by Dr B. R. Ambedkar
(head of Drafting Committee), that the nation is not ready to adopt UCC during the time of
independence. It was incorporated in the constitution as an aspect that would be fulfilled
when the nation would be ready to accept it and the social acceptance to the UCC would be
made.

Need for UCC?

India is a country of vast diversity with second largest population in the world. People here
are deeply rooted to their cultures, traditions and religion in such a way that it’s impossible
to separate people from these aspects. So, for respecting this traditional & religious
diversity of masses, respective personal laws were formulated by the eminent legal
thinkers. These personal laws are applicable on certain pre-defined groups to the legal
issues related to inheritance, succession, adoption, marriage, co-parenting, obligation of
sons to pay their father’s debts, partition of family property, guardianship and charitable
donations. But because of the non-uniformity and complexity of these personal laws,
multiple challenges have evolved in their implementation, thereby creating the demand for
UCC.
Following are the multiple reasons which have been traced by the legal researchers since
the time of independence, regarding the need for UCC: -
 Gender disparity arising out of separate laws for different religious groups: It
is the sad reality of our Indian society that our traditions and beliefs are patriarchal
and misogynist in nature going on for perpetuity since the Vedic period. Most of
religions in India follow patriarchy with variance in their degree. The most basic
example being the personal laws of Hindus and Muslims, where Hindu laws are
somewhat more favourable for the women rights as compared to the Shariat law of
Muslims. Due to these flaws and differences in various personal laws, a
comparative gender disparity has arisen not only between men and women but also
among the women professing different religions. These issues have been raised by
women multiple times like the Talaq-e-biddat or Triple Talaq issue.
 Personal laws creating a loophole in the legal system: personal laws are
formulated in such a way to ensure their conformity to the religious beliefs and
practices where the majority opinion is held to be correct. But there have been
various visible instances where to maintain this conformity of personal laws it
 directly gets in conflict with the constitutional laws. And in such a situation where,
two valid laws of opposite nature are applicable on the public simultaneously, it
creates confusing situations for the members of the legal fraternity as well as for the
netizens in determining to obey which law. And sometimes these personal laws
give acceptance to the mob lynching and female foeticide which are strong abusers
of human rights with no legal implications because of the tussle of personal and
constitutional laws.
 Aiding in the national integrity: a pan India law formulated in respect of any
matter like marriage or succession, it would not only clear the gap between genders
but would be applicable to all people of the nation irrespective of their caste, creed,
race, gender and religion. When everyone is treated equally under law, it creates a
psychological impact on the minds of the subjects towards a feeling of national
integrity or nationalism. A beautiful example can be cited from our armed forces
where uniformity of martial rules is maintained for all the soldiers and officers
irrespective of their ranks, that’s why their nationalistic feelings and readiness to
serve the country is much higher as compared to a normal citizen. With the
implementation of the UCC, a greater sense of belonging towards the nation would
automatically be developed in the minds of people.
 Curbing the vote bank politics: Even after 75 years of independence, it is the dark
reality of the Indian politics, that people’s vote here are still divided on the basis
caste and religion. Different political parties seek the votes for themselves by
providing proposals of personal laws in their election manifestos as a lure for
attracting votes of a particular community or religion. Finding personal laws as an
easy alternative to their problems, innocent public give their vote to the ill motived
politicians and thereby creating a room for their vote bank politics. If the concept of
Uniform Civil Code is implemented, then it would definitely help in removing the
vote bank politics from our country.
 To promote Secularism: In the preamble of our Indian constitution, our preamble
includes many words like sovereign, socialist, democratic, republic, etc one of the
words is ‘secular’. If we go with the literal meaning of this word it means ‘not
connected with religious or spiritual matters’ but in relation to our constitution this
word means that India as state would not prioritize any specific religion for the
country and its people. The word secular was incorporated in the preamble in 1976
by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act. In India we are currently practising
 ‘selective secularism’ under which we that we are secular in some areas but not in
others. But the need of the hour is for ‘complete secularism’ where all the aspects
are covered equally.

Issues faced in the implementation of UCC:

The concept and motive of the Uniform Civil Code appears to be a very much pragmatic
and rational way to govern things. Its implementation would help in the resolution of the
above-mentioned challenges for our legal system and for the society as well. But it’s not a
piece of cake to implement UCC in case of Indian scenario. It faces multiple challenges in
its practical implementation. Since we achieved independence, various governments have
passed on but none of them was successful in implanting UCC at a pan-India level. The
NDA alliance for the first time in 2015 proposed to implement UCC all over the country,
however it is still a dream not reality. In our country, only the state of Goa is there which
has UCC in force where every person is treated equally under law irrespective of their
religion. Following are the possibly visible issues which we may face in the
implementation of UCC:
 Religious orthodoxy of citizens: religion playing a dominant role in India citizen’s
life, also has implications in the implementation of UCC. There are some strict
orthodox people in every religion who will defend their religious beliefs at any
cost, their prime duty is to stubbornly follow their religious laws even though
inequality is being caused due to those laws. If UCC comes into force than it would
make the personal laws to vanish, which may face a huge backlash from these
religious adherents. It’s basically an ever-going tussle between freedom of religion
and the right to equality both of which are provided an equal status in our
constitution i.e. fundamental rights.
 Copy-cat of the western culture: with the implementation of UCC, we will be just
following the trajectory of western countries and there would be nothing innovative
of ours. As well as, the cultural and religious scenario is much more diverse and
complex as compared to the western societies, maybe UCC is the not the exact
solution for the Indian case.
 Misconception of the aftermath of UCC: there is a myth among the minorities
that after the implementation of UCC, it would lead to the by default convergence
of minorities to follow or adjust with the majority religion’s belief. For example, in
 the present-day India scenario the myth among minorities is that if a bill regarding
UCC is brought into the parliament by the NDA government than it would lead to
the conversion of India from a secular to Hindu state.
 Lack of full understanding of UCC: the major issue regarding the UCC is that
Indian people are not understanding its real objective and its benefits. It’s because
of the lack of education and awareness of majority of the population. This problem
is added up with the fake news and rumours on social media. This issue can be
systematically resolved by providing legal education to citizens at every level.