Towards a gender-just Uniform Civil Code

Why in the News

The Union Home Minister has said a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented in all 21 States ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The UCC is justified as serving equality and gender justice, but the Uttarakhand code “confuses uniformity with equality” and “conflates regulation with protection”.

Where does the UCC push stand?

1. What it is: A UCC replaces religion-based personal laws on marriage, divorce, maintenance and inheritance with one civil law for all citizens. It is like one rulebook replacing community rulebooks.
2. Origin of the push: The UCC became an important BJP goal after the Shah Bano judgment (1985), but no draft existed to debate.
3. Enacted and pending: Uttarakhand’s UCC applies from January 2025. Gujarat, Assam and Madhya Pradesh await Presidential assent, needed where a State law on a Concurrent List subject clashes with Union law.
4. Drafting and dissent: Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh have drafting committees. Justice R.C. Chavan quit Maharashtra’s committee, headed by Justice Ranjana Desai, over its consultative process.
5. The takeaway: States are drafting codes on the Uttarakhand model, so its flaws will spread unless corrected.

Why does the Uttarakhand code confuse uniformity with equality?

1. Live-in registration: Compulsory registration of live-in relationships, with notice to police and parents, is “surveillance masquerading as protection”.
2. Criminal penalties in civil law: Ending a marriage outside court carries three years’ punishment and a fine. Unregistered marriages, divorces or live-in relationships risk fines or jail, hurting the poor and marginalised most.
3. Court-only divorce: Sending every divorce to a civil court will clog family courts already holding lakhs of pending cases. Customary divorces are quicker and cheaper for weaker sections.
4. Silence on HUF: The code ignores tax benefits available only to Hindus through the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), a joint family taxed as a separate unit.
5. Copy of the Hindu Code Bill: It reads like a “copy-paste” of the Hindu Code Bill, ignoring progressive reforms in personal laws and family codes worldwide.

What should a gender-just UCC guarantee women?

1. Support for deserted women: Desertion leaves women and children highly vulnerable. A UCC should provide automatic maintenance orders and bar disposal of assets.
2. Gender-specific maintenance: Only women can claim maintenance under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and other personal laws, unlike the gender-neutral Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. A UCC should keep this, given unequal power in marriage.
3. Non-willable share: The Hindu Code Bill let Hindu men will away all property, causing the silent disinheritance of women. Like Muslim law’s protected share, a UCC should reserve wives and children a minimum share.
4. Marital property: Women should get an equitable share of assets built during marriage, recognising unpaid care and domestic work.
5. Second wives: Courts grant maintenance to women deceived into a void second marriage, and a UCC should codify this.

Challenges

1. Patchwork of State codes: Each State enacting its own code produces different rules, which defeats uniformity itself.
2. Minority apprehension: Communities fear a code modelled on Hindu law imposes majority practice. Eg. Meghalaya and Mizoram district councils opposing it.
3. Religious freedom claims: Reform faces challenges under Article 25 (freedom of religion).
4. Thin consultation: Hurried drafting loses legitimacy with affected groups.

Way Forward

1. Optional registration: Make registration optional and confidential, with tangible benefits such as maintenance, legitimacy of children and inheritance rights.
2. Administrative divorce: Create an administrative mechanism for mutual-consent divorces, reserving courts for contested or complex cases.
3. Inclusive consultation: Consult groups working for women, Adivasis, queer and transgender people and persons with disabilities.
4. Civil, not criminal, compliance: Replace penalties with awareness drives and user-friendly procedures.

Conclusion

The UCC is moving from slogan to statute State by State, but the first enacted model regulates relationships more than it secures women’s economic rights. Whether pending State bills are revised toward maintenance and marital property rights before assent will show if uniformity serves gender justice.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2021] Under the Indian Constitution, concentration of wealth violates (a) the Right to Equality (b) the Directive Principles of State Policy (c) the Right to Freedom (d) the Concept of Welfare Answer: (b)”