WHY UNIFORM CIVIL CODE IS AN CONFLICTING ISSUE:
THE LAWWAY WITH LAWYERS JOURNAL VOLUME:- 3 ISSUE NO:- 3 , September 17, 2023 Authored by :- Roushni singh WHY UNIFORM CIVIL CODE IS AN CONFLICTING ISSUE: :ABSTRACT: The implementation of UCC came with the idea to provide benefits to all individuals. But it does have some character in it to violate fundamental rights . The particular chapter will be dealing with respect to the constitutional approach . It means , it will describe where it strengthens constitutional rights and where it is violating constitutional rights .Majorly, it will be talking about important articles under fundamental rights , which will be violated because of UCC. it will even deal with the articles and cases , where it leads to infringement of rights. It may be because of implementation of UCC in positive or negative ways. It will deal with why it is not part of fundamental right , is it constitutionally justified by keeping the articles of fundamental rights in mind ,how it violates the rights , how it provides overall benefit to our nation and at the end concluding with famous case law shayara bano vs. union of India and sarla mudgal vs. union of india :KEYWORDS: ARTICLE 44 (UCC) DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLE OF STATE POLICIES GENDER EQUALITY RELIGIOUS PERSONAL LAWS CONFLICT WOMEN RIGHTS SHAYARA BANO AND SARLA MUDGAL CASE ANALYSIS :BACKGROUND: Uniform civil code is a controversial topic and pending topic of discussion for a long time. The discussion was much in need after independence. But everytime this results in nothing after a long topic of discourse. After the arrival of the Bharatiya janata party in power, the topic started to come into light. The Bharatiya Janata party had incorporated the uniform civil code in their party manifesto. So it was very likely to be anytime come to discussion in parliament if the bharatiya janata party is again form its government in India as it was part of their manifesto. There was huge support for this topic from all right wing political parties and now eventually time has arrived where it is about to come into existence in India. This topic of UCC implementation has been used by many BJP’S political leaders during their election campaign. Recently Prime minister mr. NARENDRA MODI talked about the issue while addressing party workers in bhopal and moreover the law commission of India even working to collect the report regarding it in order to implement it efficiently. BJP MP sunil kumar singh presented a private membership bill for UCC in parliament on 28 july 2023. Since then it has been in controversy as the opposition party, religious leaders , state parties and some NDA allies are not even happy with the decision of adopting UCC. : BRIEFING ABOUT UNIFORM CIVIL CODE : Uniform civil code refers to a set of laws which is common for all citizens, irrespective of their religion,class, sex, region, ethnicity etc. It majorly deals with personal law, which is even civil law. The main objective of this law is to replace diverse personal law existing in the country , especially to tackle unnecessary differences and discriminatory personal law existing in all religions and communities. The uniform civil code aim is to give a common legal framework and platform in all aspects of law. It establishes equality, justice and uniformity among people belonging to different religions and ethnicities. It ensures equal rights to all , which create harmony in society . Personal law includes law regarding marriage, adoption ,divorce,inheritance, and adoption, which UCC basically talks about unifining it. If we see this law with respect to India, it has a very diverse understanding as the law is also discriminatory to the region , where it is uniform along with the places , where it is not uniform. For instance: the state of Goa follows uniform law, but still the law is discriminatory and patriarchal in nature. The law in Goa gives rights to men to practice bigamy , it allows hindu men to have two wives with certain fulfillment of the condition. It doesn’t directly legalize bigamy but allows it with certain conditions. Like, if women could not conceive any child at the age of 21 or could not give birth to male child at the age of 30. Then the hindu men in goa have a right to marry second women. It is being said that the concern of the first wife is mandatory to marry the 2nd wife even after the above condition. It has been often observed that the 1st wife is often compelled by society to give her consent. Whereas in other parts of India, where the hindu family law is applicable and practiced, it does not allow any hindu men to marry a second wife when the first wife is alive and not divorced yet. It means no bigamy is being practiced. It is more diverse in the sense that it allows muslim men to practice polygamy , where they can keep four wives with them. Earlier it even allowed husbands to enjoy divorce right over undermining their wife or wives right. They had the privilege of triple talaq , which used to allow muslim men to give divorce to their spouse anytime and anywhere. Their issue and concern are often being dealt with by a personal law committee , which is often biased and patriarchal in nature. That’s why the implementation of the UCC is a contentious issue as it includes religious freedom, cultural practices , and rights of the individuals with the idea of harmonizing personal law and promoting social cohesion. The adoption or enforcement of uniform civil code can differ from one nation to another as it depends upon the existing legal system of the particular country, political scenario , societal consideration and many more things. Here , the personal law often deals with the cases related to marriage,adoption,inheritance,divorce and succession. It’s many times found to be discriminatory and