Uniform Civil Code

Published on 16 Jan 2025

The Uniform Civil Code, mentioned in Article 44 of the Constitution, is a proposal to replace the personal laws of various religious communities with a common set of laws for all citizens. The concept of the Uniform civil code is rooted in the idea of equality before the law.

Need to have a Uniform Civil Code

• Facilitate national integration: Creating a common identity among the citizens would reduce the differences among communities and aid in strengthening brotherhood.

• Example: UCC can create a sense of commonality among the majority Hindus, five identified minorities and several other tribal groups

• Promotes secularism: A common law for all means treating every religion equally which can reduce instances of communal conflicts.

• Focus on equality: Uniform civil code guarantees equal treatment to all citizens and makes the implementation of Article 14 and Article 15  more substantive.

• Example: Discriminatory practices like Made Snana where the lower caste people roll over the leftover food of Brahmins for curing their diseases can be removed when UCC is implemented.

• Gender justice: Many religious laws are discriminatory against women and a uniform code can bring parity between both genders.

• Example: Parsi women who marry non-Parsi men are denied access to hereditary property while the same is not true for men.

• Reform outdated practices: Certain religious practices that are violative of fundamental rights could be reformed when UCC is implemented.

• Example: Weird practices like marriage with animals to get rid of Mangal Dosh are certain practices that are inhumane.

• Simplification of the legal system: Elimination of complexities and contradictions of multiple laws facilitates better implementations of laws.

Challenges in implementing Uniform Civil Code

• Diversity within the personal laws: Many of the laws are contradictory to one another and hence it is very difficult to document a comprehensive law acceptable to all.

• Example: Marriage laws are different for all religions and bringing consensus among all groups is a difficult task.

• Resistance from religious groups: Religious groups may claim such efforts to be taking away certain core aspects of their religion, resulting in religious conflicts.

• Example: Progressive moves like a ban on triple talaq received criticism from the Muslim community and Islamic organisations.

• Resistance from minority and tribal groups: Efforts like UCC to bring uniformity create a sense of fear among the minority about losing their culture and traditions.

• Example: Present NDA government's efforts to bring UCC led to heavy protests in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.

• Patriarchal offshoots: UCC would inevitably grant more rights to women and this could threaten the traditional advantage available to men which could stir debates.

• Example: UCC could open more power to women while filing for divorce and inheriting property which are against male interest.

• Lack of political will: Many political parties are not willing to implement UCC considering vote bank politics.

• Practical difficulty: Substantial effort should be laid for properly drafting, coding and harmonising these laws which consumes lots of time and manpower.

Though the Law Commission has previously referred to UCC as an unnecessary exercise, the Supreme Court, over the years, has implicitly pushed for UCC through its judgements in the Shah Bano case of 1985, Sarla Mudgal case of 1995 and the Shayara Bano case of 2017. Considering these changes, the Law Commission has recently sought a public response on the need to implement UCC in the country with the public response being crucial for the future of UCC in the country.

Tags:
Polity

Keywords:
Uniform Civil Code article 44 secularism Shah Bano case Shayara Bano case UCC

Syllabus:
General Studies Paper 2

Topics:
Indian Constitution