By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 6 Feb: The Uniform Civil Code will become law once the Governor grants his approval to the bill, soon after the passage of the bill in the State Assembly. Uttarakhand is the first state in the country after independence to implement the UCC. There are 392 sections in the Bill which was tabled this morning. According to the government, once it becomes the law, it aims to remove anomalies arising from traditional customs. It aims particularly to end discrimination against women of all sections of society. It also talks about equal rights for all religions and addresses love jihad, marriage and inheritance rights for women.
Some of the important provisions include-
Tribals excluded from application of UCC
It needs to be pointed out here that despite the good intentions of the UCC Bill to end all discrimination and anomalies, the bill provides for exclusion of the tribals (Scheduled Tribes) from the application of the law. The Bill clearly mentions that Uttarakhand’s tribal population has been exempted from the provisions. It says, “Nothing contained in this code shall apply to the members of any Scheduled Tribes…. and the persons and group of persons whose customary rights are protected under the Part XXI of the Constitution of India.” This can be stated to be a letdown. It remains to be seen if the tribes will also be included in the future as the Centre also is learnt to be mulling a Central UCC bill soon.
Marriage Age fixed in case of all religions
The minimum age for marriage is fixed in the Hindu Code but not under the Muslim Personal Law. Therefore, in some religions, girls get married even at a young age. The UCC Bill mandates a minimum age of 18 years in case of girls and 21 years in case of boys, irrespective of any religion.
Non-declaration of live in relationship to attract penalty or imprisonment
Another major provision is the mandatory declaration of live-in relationships. After the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code, it will be necessary to register live-in relationships on the web portal in Uttarakhand. For not registering, the couple can face imprisonment of six months or a fine of Rs 25,000 or both. On the basis of the receipt that the couple will receive as registration, they will be able to get a house, hostel or PG on rent. Live-in relationship is clearly defined in the UCC. According to this, only an adult man and an adult woman will be able to do so. They should not be already married or in a live-in relationship with anyone else, or be in prohibited degrees of relationship (The bill also has mentioned the list of prohibited relationships). The registrar will have to inform the parents or guardian of the couple registering. It will be necessary for those entering into a live-in relationship to declare their relationship within one month of entering into such a relationship.
One important provision in this respect is that children born of such relations will be considered legitimate and deserted women partners entitled to maintenance from their partners.
Mandatory registration of Marriage
Marriage registration has been made mandatory once this law comes into force. In case of non-registration of marriages, the married couple may be deprived of any government facility.
Equal inheritance rights to daughters and ‘illegitimate’ children too
With the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code, there will be no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children in all sections of the state’s population. In the draft, there is a provision to give equal rights in property to sons and daughters in all classes irrespective of religion. Illegitimate children are also considered to be biological children of that couple. Under the Uniform Civil Code, there will be no distinction between adopted children, children born through surrogacy and children born through assisted reproductive technology. They will be considered biological children like others. After the death of a person, his wife and children are given equal rights in his property. His parents are also given equal rights in his property. Whereas, in the old laws, only the mother had rights in the property of the deceased.
The UCC concludes that inheritance is not a religious issue but a matter of civil and human rights. After the implementation of the law, in the event of the death of a working son, the responsibility of maintaining the elderly parents will be on the wife. They will also get compensation. In the event of the death of the husband, if the wife remarries, the compensation received will be shared with the parents.
Right to adopt will apply to Muslim women, too
After the implementation of the law, Muslim women in the state will also get the right to adopt. The adoption process will be easier. With this, the process of guardianship for orphaned children will be simplified. After the implementation of the law, in cases of dispute between a couple, the custody of their children can be given to the grandparents.
Equal rights for husband and wife on divorce
Equal grounds for divorce will be available to both husband and wife. The same grounds of divorce which are applicable to the husband will also be applicable to the wife. At present, under personal law, the husband and wife have different grounds for divorce. Now, equal grounds for divorce will be available to, both, the husband and wife irrespective of religion.
It may be recalled that, under practiced Islamic law, triple talaq can be given in one go by uttering talaq thrice, through any means. There have been incidents where divorce has been given by Muslim husbands over a phone call or message. In Talaq-e-Hassan and Talaq-e-Ahsan, there is a procedure and fixed period of divorce. In both these processes, the husband and wife get time to take a decision.
Ban on Polygamy
Some laws allow polygamy. Since a second marriage is a crime for Hindus, Christians and Parsis, and there is a provision of punishment of seven years. That’s why some people change religion to marry again. After the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), polygamy will be banned.
The UCC bill permits marriages only if “neither party has a spouse living at the time” effectively prohibiting bigamy or polygamy. The conditions for solemnising a marriage also take “public policy and morality” into account and retains the ‘degrees for prohibited relationship’ exception. The marriageable age for all men and women has been set at 21 and 18, respectively.
