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By Poonam I Kaushish<\/strong><\/p>\n \n As the world lives a calamity amidst the ongoing destructive war between US-Israel vs Iran which spares no nation as thousands continue getting killed and billions of dollars worth of oil-gas infrastructure destroyed, Prime Minister Modi tries to calm peoples\u2019 fears as five States get poll-battle ready, the Supreme Court sets the cat among pigeons when it pitched for Uniform Civil Code (UCC) yet again recently.<\/p>\n Highlighting importance of equality as enshrined in the Constitution a three-judge Bench said it was the \u201cmost effective answer\u201d to usher in equality in inheritance laws, rather than the court striking down allegedly discriminatory personal law provisions and causing ambiguities, while hearing a plea challenging provisions of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, which discriminated against Muslim women in succession matters etc by denying them equal property rights like their male co-religionists.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil and unless we can create through our judicial fiat, a equal strata in respect of these asymmetric property rights, including inheritance rights, to strike and declare the personal law as ultra vires will create unnecessary void and in such a situation it may be better to defer to the wisdom of the legislature to bring in one of the fundamental Directive Principles of State policy,<\/p>\n UCC, which we have already recommended for the country,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n Importantly, there are two UCC takeaways. Politically, it is work in progress. For Prime Minister Modi it\u2019s a no brainer as UCC is need of the hour as the existing code is \u201ccommunal\u201d dividing people on religious lines and \u201cdiscriminatory.\u201d Underscoring the foundational principle of equality and its promise of dignity for women, he believes, every Indian must be same and equal in eyes of law. Allies JD(U) and TDP seem to be kosher with it but feel any move must come through consensus.<\/p>\n For decades UCC was considered outlandish, given India\u2019s fractured polity and legally complex given the maze of faith-based and secular laws that govern the country. But with BJP States stating they will follow Uttarakhand\u2019s UCC model it is clear it has found a workable solution. As this allows it to keep out of legal and social tangles and maintain its ideological edge.<\/p>\n However, the social aspect is trickier. UCC was considered a third rail in Indian politics because of fear of majoritarian values overpowering minority traditions. Perhaps, why Constituent Assembly didn\u2019t enact it and included it in the non-justiciable Directive Principles of State policy. Ambedkar advocated \u201coptional\u201d UCC.<\/p>\n Even as Modi Sarkar preens UCC champions and is a milestone for women\u2019s rights, addresses discrimination against women and would eliminate injustices and wrongful acts perpetrated against \u2018Matrishakti\u2019, critics assert it infringes upon personal freedoms and targets minorities.<\/p>\n Naturally, Opposition has attacked this as symptomatic of Modi\u2019s disregard for India\u2019s diversity saying \u201cgood governance and not uniformity should be the objective of a democracy. UCC would interfere with the right of religious freedom, minority rights, their identity\u00a0 and in personal laws of religious groups unless religious groups are prepared for change, (sic). It is a \u2018minority vs majority\u2019 issue and the Hindutva Brigade\u2019s policy for Muslims living in India.\u201d<\/p>\n Arguably, what is it about the Code that makes our politicians other than the Hindutva Brigade see red? Why should UCC be viewed as encroaching on right of religious freedom? Or being anti-minority? If Hindu personal law can be modernized and traditional Christian custom struck down as unconstitutional, why should Muslim personal law be treated as being sacred to the secular cause?<\/p>\n Alas, over the years deliberate distortions of religion to suit narrow personal and political ends had vitiated the country, which shamelessly, has everything to do with vote-bank politics whereby the UCC debate often becomes political rather than legal as is sometimes used as a polarising issue rather than a reform agenda. Whereby, Ram-Rahim have been reduced to election cut-outs in today\u2019s politico-social reality, successive Governments have failed to draw a distinction between politics, caste and religion.<\/p>\n As things stand Article 25 guarantees freedom of religion and UCC may be seen as State interference and violation of freedom to practice religion of choice\u00a0which allows communities to follow their respective personal laws. Alongside Article 29 the right to conserve their distinct culture.<\/p>\n Many minorities worry UCC could reflect majority (Hindu) norms and not truly be \u201cneutral\u201d which would create a trust deficit, especially among Muslims and Christians. Some are wary UCC will impose a Hinduised code for all communities as it could include provisions regarding personal issues like marriage, divorce, child custody, property rights that are in line with Hindu customs but will legally force other communities to follow the same.<\/p>\n Those for UCC assert it would promote equality and justice as it is voluntary and doesn\u2019t seek to impose any view or way of life on anyone arbitrarily. It would help case of national integration by removing desperate loyalties to laws, which have conflicting ideologies. As one civil law reduces legal fragmentation and is seen as strengthening the idea of \u201cone nation, one law.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreover with modern Indian society gradually becoming homogenous, traditional barriers of religion, community and caste are slowly dissipating whereby UCC provides protection to vulnerable sections and religious minorities, while encouraging nationalistic fervour through unity. Also, the need for it arises due to existence of discriminatory practices and is considered crucial to achieving social reform, eliminating inequities, and upholding fundamental rights. A thought echoed by Supreme Court in various judgments.<\/p>\n Where do we go from here? Time for consensus among people which addresses their misgivings and concerns before the Code is enacted. Said a senior Minister, \u201cThere is need to tackle \u201cdelusions\u201d that some have \u201cencouraged\u201d that UCC is against rituals and core practices of any religion. It is a scientific and modern way of achieving goals of gender justice by removing disparate loyalties in laws which have conflicting ideologies.\u201d<\/p>\n Hence India and its secularism deserve a voluntary common civil code for gradual acceptance without further delay. Whereby, enlightened opinion among Muslims will then have a choice\u2019 be liberal and progressive or remain obscurantist and backward. Uttarakhand and Goa already have UCC willingly accepted by all. Gujarat is next. It is obvious, Modi Sarkar is following the principle of \u201ctest in States first, then scale up\u201d strategy.<\/p>\n In sum, no one community should be allowed veto or block a progressive legislation. Especially, if it\u2019s voluntary and doesn\u2019t seek to impose any view or way of life on anyone arbitrarily. UCC will help cause of national integration by removing desperate loyalties to laws, which have conflicting ideologies. How long will we live at impulses and fancies of Pandits, Mullahs and Bishops? \u2014\u2014 INFA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Uniform Civil Code\u00a0 By Poonam I Kaushish As the world lives a calamity amidst the ongoing destructive war between US-Israel vs Iran which spares no nation as thousands continue getting killed and billions of dollars worth of oil-gas infrastructure destroyed, Prime Minister Modi tries to calm peoples\u2019 fears as five States get poll-battle ready, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-280750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280757,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280750\/revisions\/280757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}