Dehradun, 06 February: The Dhami government tabled the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill in the Assembly on Tuesday as part of its election promise. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reached the Assembly with a copy of the Constitution. The UCC draft includes many important points like a single law for marriage and divorce in every religion and, ban on polygamy.
One of the major promises made by the BJP to the public during the assembly elections held in the year 2022 was to implement UCC in the state. Under this, after creating history by registering victory for the second consecutive time in Uttarakhand, in the first meeting of the Cabinet immediately after the formation of the government in March 2022, the BJP had approved the formation of an expert committee to prepare the draft of the UCC.
According to the draft of UCC, many important points are included. Some of these are as follows.
- The minimum age for marriage of girls in all religions will be 18 years.
- Equal rights for men and women to divorce.
- It is necessary to declare live-in relationship.
- 6 months imprisonment for not getting live-in registration done.
- Children born in live-in marriage have equal rights in property.
- There are no conditions for a woman to remarry.
- Outside the Scheduled Tribe purview.
- Prohibition of polygamy, no second marriage while the husband or wife is alive.
- Marriage registration is necessary, without registration there is no facility.
- Girls have equal rights in inheritance.
- What will happen if UCC is implemented?
- Same law for marriage and divorce in every religion.
- The law which is for Hindus, is the same for others also.
- Will not be able to marry more than once without divorce.
- Muslims will not be allowed to marry four times.
- What will not change with UCC?
- No difference on religious beliefs.
- No impact on religious customs.
- It is not that the marriage will not be conducted by a Pandit or a Maulvi.
- There will be no impact on eating habits, worship, dressing etc.
The bill encompasses laws related to marriage, divorce, succession, and live-in relationships, among other things. One of the key proposals in the UCC Bill is the compulsory registration of live-in relationships within one month of entering into the relationship.
The bill also aims to ban child marriage and introduce a uniform process for divorce, while providing equal rights to women of all religions in their ancestral property. Moreover, it sets the minimum age for marriage at 18 for women and 21 for men across all communities and mandates registration of marriages in all religions.
However, the proposed UCC Bill exempts members of Scheduled Tribes and those whose customary rights are protected under Part XXI of the Indian Constitution. With this move,
CM Dhami believes that Uttarakhand will become a strong supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for a unified and equal society.
