Uniform Civil Code draft handed over to law panel chief

If brought into force, triple talaq and unequal privileges such as the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), which allows for special tax concessions to Hindus, would go.

A draft of a potential Uniform Civil Code, termed “Progressive Uniform Civil Code” (PUCC), was presented to Law Commission chairman Justice B S Chauhan (retd) by a group of eminent citizens from various walks of life.

Last year, Justice Chauhan was tasked with helping formulate a draft on UCC that the government could consider later. The Law Commission sent out a questionnaire to several faith groups, leading to some hostility and concerns over ensuring that Constitutional values apply to all personal laws.

Soli Sorabjee, senior Supreme Court advocate and a former Attorney General of India, wrote to Justice Chauhan in support of the initiative. He said, “The Law Commission should obviate any apprehension that anything uniform would be majoritarian. Besides, its recommendations need to be far-sighted and progressive.”

Eight eminent citizens, including scholars, a retired senior Army officer, a Magsaysay award-winning activist, writers, classical singer and a legal luminary have lent their weight to a draft that purports to provide “equal rights in marriage, divorce, child custody, guardianship, inheritance and succession”, “irrespective of their gender, sex and sexuality, religious or cultural traditions or beliefs”.

It sets out at the onset to bring about progressive uniform laws “in line with globally accepted values of human rights”.

The signatories are T M Krishna (singer and artiste), S Irfan Habib (historian), Mukul Kesavan (writer), Dushyant (lawyer), Maj Gen S Vombetkere (retd), Nilanjana Roy (writer), Gul Panag (actor), and Bezwada Wilson (Magsaysay winner who heads Safai Karamchari Andolan).

Krishna, Wilson and Dushyant met Justice Chauhan on Wednesday to submit a draft proposal. The draft defines marriage as “a legal union” between straight and gay couples. On many matters, divorce being one, it aims to provide perfect equality between the partners, irrespective of gender.

T M Krishna said; “The idea of a UCC has been floated by people for some time now. But under the present political dispensation there has been a conscious attempt to use it to create a Hindu majoritarian country. The targets of such agenda are the minorities, which include religious, sexual and socially marginalised citizens, whom they want to homogenise as per upper-caste Hindu norms. This needs to be challenged. We have therefore proposed a UCC that is progressive…. It looks at the wonderful possibilities that exist in such an idea.”

Dushyant, who drafted the proposal, said, “I have been grappling with the question of personal laws of various religions, and the need for a UCC which is not only uniform but, more importantly, progressive. Inequities caused by one set of laws should not be replaced by inequities and discrimination of another type in the garb of UCC. The group came together on that fundamental premise.”

If brought into force, triple talaq and unequal privileges such as the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), which allows for special tax concessions to Hindus, would go.