While the 22nd Law Commission of India has sought public views about the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), since there are different laws governing marriage, divorce, property, inheritance, and other issues, the UCC must be implemented as soon as possible.
Article 44 of the Constitution, one of the Directive Principles of State Policy, advocates the UCC, and different courts have expressed similar views from time to time. However, respective religion-based civil codes are still allowed, to respect the diversity of India.
A host of acts include –the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, and the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act 1956 (the act does not apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir) are covered under the Hindu Code Bill. These acts apply to Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Virashaivas, Lingayats, and followers of the Brahmo and Prarthana or Arya Samaj.
Other acts are the Parsi Marriage and Divorce (Amendment) Act, of 1988 (amendment to the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936), the Christian Marriage Act of 1872, and the Special Marriage Act, of 1954 (SMA) which applies to entire India and extends to intending spouses who are both Indian nationals living abroad.
All these acts prohibit bigamy (marrying someone else while simultaneously being married to a spouse who is still living) and polygamy (the custom of having more than one wife at the same time). These acts are punishable under Sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
However, bigamy and polygamy are not criminal offences under the Shariat Application Act 1937 (Muslim Personal Law) (MPL). Besides, although Section 494 (6) of IPC makes bigamy a criminal offense, Section 2 (7) of MPL allows the application of polygamy to Muslims. It is also on the side of the legitimacy of polygamy. The Supreme Court has ruled that a fundamental right to profess Islam does not include the practice of polygamy.
Similarly as per the MPL, although a Hindu husband has a right to embrace Islam, he has no right to marry again without getting his marriage dissolved. But by and large, this rule is violated by those wanting to go in for second marriage. There have been examples of certain celebrities, including Bollywood stars, taking advantage of this provision.
The MPL applies to Muslims regarding intestate succession, special property of women, marriage, maintenance, guardianship, trust properties, and wakfs (other than charities and charitable institutions).
The system of triple talaq (when a husband pronounces three repudiations at once to divorce his wife) has been banned from August 1, 2019, onwards with the passing of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019 on July 30, 2019.
Condition in other states
The Goa civil code based on the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 (amended in 1966) does not recognize bigamy or polygamy, including for Muslims, but grants an exception to a Hindu man to marry once again if his wife doesn’t conceive a child by the age of 21 or a male child by the age of 30. The act also ensures that the wife is entitled to half of the ‘common assets’ including those inherited by her husband in case of a divorce.
Now Uttarakhand has prepared a draft for UCC and the Assam government has set up a four-member committee to examine the legislative competence of the state legislature to enact a law to end polygamy.
Some opposition parties have opposed the UCC, but to prevent rising litigations related to marriage, divorce, property, and inheritance, the Special Marriage Act (SMA) seems to be the better option, since it governs a civil marriage where the state sanctions the marriage rather than the religion. The proposed UCC could be based more or less on the lines of the SMA.
Family Planning
The marriage age is 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys. There is no national two-child policy, although there are local laws for politicians. For example, the people contesting the panchayat (local government) polls can be disqualified if they have not respected the two-child policy.
Population
Now the country’s population is above 142.86 crore and India has overtaken China which has 142.57 crore population, to become the most-populous country and 7th in size in the world.
(Raju Vernekar is a Mumbai-based senior journalist who has worked for several daily newspapers)
