Uttarakhand's UCC: A template for India or a test case for courts?

Uttarakhand may have become the first state to implement the contentious Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country, but it certainly will not be the last one. Gujarat, another Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state, has already formed a panel to assess the need for the same and draft a Bill in this regard.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami recently launched the UCC Portal, unveiled the official notification, and released the rules in Dehradun.
“It’s not only a historic day for Uttarakhand but also for the country... The credit for initiating the UCC goes to the Devbhoomi (Uttarakhand),” he said at the launch of the portal.

“From this moment, we are implementing a uniform civil code... The rights of all citizens will be the same... The rights of the women of all faiths will be the same... We have fulfilled the promise we had made,” he added.

Dhami likened the implementation of the UCC in the state to the flow of the Ganga. “Just as the holy Ganga originates from the Uttarakhand and unifies the country, the UCC will also originate from this state and unify the country,” Dhami had said a few days before the implementation of the UCC in the state.

He also said that his party had fulfilled an important promise it had made to the people of the state.

With the launch of the UCC portal, online registrations for marriages, divorces, live-in relationships and their dissolution, and inheritance have begun in the state. According to reports, over 200 people had submitted applications so far on the portal under various categories since the portal went live.

The UCC standardises laws governing marriages, divorces, maintenance, and inheritance. It makes marriage registrations mandatory, imposing a fine of Rs 25,000 for failing to do so. Those failing to get their marriage registered will not be eligible to receive any government benefits. It also provided for identical grounds for the husband and wife in cases of divorce and a ban on polygamy.

The UCC provided for a ban on iddat (the waiting period a Muslim woman must observe before remarrying after divorce or her husband’s death) and halala (where a divorced Muslim woman must marry another man, obtain a divorce, and observe iddat before remarrying her first husband).

The UCC provides for equal rights for sons and daughters and also does not differentiate between legitimate and illegitimate children. Children through surrogacy or assisted reproductive technology would also be considered as biological children.

Some scheduled tribes living in the state have been kept out of the purview of the UCC.

While the state Chief Secretary, Radha Raturi, said that the UCC had been prepared after detailed deliberations and that it was a matter of pride for the state and claimed that it would have a positive effect on society, the Muslim clergy has strongly protested against the code, saying that it infringed on the religious rights of the community.

“It’s a direct interference in the religious matters of the Muslims and an attempt to impose the Hindu laws on the community,” Muslim League Joint Secretary Maulana Kausar Hayat Khan said. He said that the UCC was against the Muslims in the country and that the government did not speak to the community members or leaders before enacting the same.

Another senior Muslim cleric and All India Muslim Jamaat National President Shahabuddin Rizvi said that the Muslims living in Uttarakhand were not ‘bound’ to abide by the UCC if it was against the shariat (Islamic laws).

Some political experts apprehend that the Muslim community may not be comfortable with the UCC and may not follow the same. They also apprehend that some provisions of the UCC may be challenged in the courts. “We may witness a legal battle over some provisions of the UCC as there are views that they may be in violation of the Constitution,” said a Uttarakhand-based political analyst.

A Lucknow-based media analyst, J P Shukla, said that the UCC would usher in a much-needed social change. “The society has undergone tremendous changes in the past few decades; new social codes are the need of the hour,” he said.

Shanu Raghuvanshi, a Bareilly-based social activist, said that the UCC would be a “game changer”. 

Nijam Pragyat Shukla, a counsel with Legal Aid, said that the UCC ‘protected’ the rights of the Muslim women. “It’s not against any community. In fact, it will protect the rights of members of every community,” he added.

With the BJP-ruled states likely to go for the UCC in the days to come and the opposition-ruled states shunning it, there is little chance of a consensus on the same.