Sunday 1 June 2014

Uniform Civil Code-II

Among the comments to my previous post ( regarding uniform civil code) was a comment that if the Muslim Law was amended by Parliament it will violate the fundamental right of Muslims to practice their religion. 

To my mind this is a specious argument. The Hindu Law was drastically amended by Parliament in 1955 and 1956, but that did not violate the right of Hindus to practise their religion. Moreover much of Muslim law has already been amended.and a uniform law made for all. For instance, the Muslim criminal law has been replaced by the Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code a hundred years ago. Now people cannot stone a person to death for adultery, as was permitted by Muslim law. In fact it will amount to murder under section 302 I.P.C. By abolishing the Muslim Criminal law have the Muslims in India been deprived of their right tp practise their religion ? The land laws in rural India are also common to both Hindus and Muslims, e.g. the U.P.Zamindari Abolition Act, 1951, and to that extent the Muslim law has been abolished. Has that denied to the Muslims the right to practice their religion ? 

Similarly, if there is a common civil code Muslims will not in any way be denied the right to practice their religion.

Law reflects social relations in a society at a particular stage of its historical development. Muslim law, like the old (non statutory) Hindu law, was a law made in the middle ages in feudal society. Obviously that law is outdated in modern society. For instance, in feudal society, women were regarded as inferior to men. Hence the law discriminated against them. Thus, while a Muslim male can marry 4 wives, a Muslim female can marry only one husband. A Muslim husband can divorce his wife without going to court and without giving any reason , but a Muslim wife who wants a divorce has to file a petition in Court, and plead and prove one of the grounds mentioned in section 2 of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, That petition may take years to decide. A Muslim daughter gets only half what the son inherits. Many more examples of discrimination against women in Muslim Law can be given.
The modern age is the age of equality. Monogamy represents equality between men and women. The Muslim law, being a law of medeival society, is totally outdated in the modern age, and needs to be drastically amended.


In all modern countries there is one law for all communities. The Muslim law was not allowed to be amended by certain bigoted people and for vote bank politics, and this refusal to modernize Muslim law or enact a common civil code has contributed to keeping Muslims backward in our country, and has thus done great harm to Muslims

28 comments:

  1. Dear Justice Katju, Thanks for taking the time in writing this article. Your concern for justice for all is commendable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A quote from http://www.icna.org/defending-religious-freedom-understanding-shariah/

    Here is the most important part of Sharia Law – you have to obey the laws and respect the customs of the country you live in.

    For example, Islam allows polygamy but polygamy is banned in America. Per Sharia law, an Imam in an American mosque must abide by the American law and only perform a wedding ceremony after a couple have received the marriage license from the local county office!

    ReplyDelete
  3. i dont expect from maulana to agree like somehow hindu pandit in thier religion interfere bt why youth muslim ,woman specialy girl not comming strongly in favour of UCC..why fear its india no one can thrighten u i guarntee

    ReplyDelete
  4. More than that, uniform civil code will be good for country.

    1) To reduce population, this is one of the main reason India is so poor, hunger is there and lack of resources to feed so much hungry. When we have one law for people not to have more than one children or else give 5 times tax, it will not have interference of muslim board to produce many children or even backward class hindu. For population rise, hindus are equally responsible. Example Lalu prasad with 10 children

    2) Then law can be set equal for everyone. But uniform civil code should be made keeping in mind the sentiment of all religion, not just hindu customs and tradition.

    3) Uniform civil code can lead to policy implementation for all section

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sir I believe the comment referred to in your latest blog is mine… I absolutely understand and appreciate the need for the uniform criminal law but for civil law to me has a different sphere & magnitude of impact.. While the criminal law may not touch/influence the lives of most of the citizens the civil law would impact us all every day.
    Sir how would state ensure the misinterpretation and misuse of the act..... I am sure you would also foresee that the law would be vulnerable to a lot of misinterpretation and may be a potential instrument of misuse no matter how well the scope and boundaries are defined… Where and how do you draw the line between civil code and religious liberties? For e.g.The way of conducting religious rituals, prayers, last rites and functions may also involve activities within the sphere of civil code of conduct.. All of this can be easily used to invoke UCC and create unnecessary friction.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Respected Sir,
    As a Muslim, I am ready to discuss the merits of Uniform Civil Code. Having spent a lot of time in Muslim locality, I can claim one thing for sure that the incidence of bigamy is very low. In our locality of 10000, we used to refer to the person as "do biwi wale" (having two wives). It does indicate that the phenomenon was a rare one. If the proposal is to abolish bigamy, Muslims, in my view, will accept that. No well-meaning, rational person would support bigamy.
    There can be some reform with respect to divorce procedure. It has been pointed out n number of times that "triple talaq" is not valid. There is a proper procedure outlined in the Quran which envisages time gap between the 3 stages. There can be some reforms there too.
    However, I am not able to understand one thing. How does one explain the economic backwardness? Suggesting UCC as a cure for economic backwardness, in my view, trivializes the whole issue.
    I request you to explain the linkages. You have always been forthright and I love reading your opinion in "the Hindu". It would be really nice if you write one as an opinion piece in the newspaper. Instead of an omnibus UCC, we may break it down to 4 major components - divorce, succession, maintenance after divorce and polygamy, and proceed discussions on the merit of each.

    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is a very healthy debate and we have to discuss this openly and make sure Muslims participate and make this happen

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. DO MAINTENANCE ON DIVORCE AS PER HINDU ACT WORKING THE SOLE CRY FOR UNIFORM CIVIL CODE
    Present system of maintenance in Hindus is also a failure. Except for salaried class nobody declare income.Properties are taken away from name of son involved in divorce.It take years to get maintenance in courts and usually matter ends in out of court settlement. In this scenario contract declaring compensation at time of marriage or a declared income with annual increase be mentioned at time of marriage especially for non salaried class mentioning monthly maintenance and rate of annual increment be mentioned in a contract etc be the option. So both sides will know in advance what type of marriage contract they are entering into.
    I will even go a step further that conditions of polygamy and inheritance could also be part of negotiation in this contract but that need a deeper study by experts. It has specially to be considered in view of large scale disparity likely to exist for time to come. Also problem of change of values in society(divorce less stigmatized with coming times) and woman economically stronger this contract will also protect exploitation from either side.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sir,
    Thank you very much for initiating such a healthy debate over a long pending issue.
    As a true citizen of India I would like to put foreword my views.
    These laws I.e.Hindu,Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikhs, Jainis and so on,at that time guidelines,were laid down by enlightened visionaries who had deep desire that their disciples should lead a healthy, prosperous, happy, safe, contented life for generations to come.
    There are some good points in all of them.We should comparatively study. Collect the best from all and form a Uniform Civil Code. I think that this is the soul of it.
    But unfortunately it is aired that making uniform civil code means abolition of Muslim Personal Law and imposing of Hindu laws. In fact it is the time to review the Hindu laws made after Independence.
    Let us discuss some.
    1:-A Muslim daughter gets only half of what the son inherits. A Hindu gets equal and in addition to it she gets equal from her father I law's property even if she divorces his son.
    2:Muslim law provides for stoning to death for woman committing to adultery(Now IPC does not allow this) But in Hindu law whenever there is adultery woman is marked as BECHARI and man is convicted.
    3:Muslim husband can divorce his wife without going to court and without giving any reason. For this he has to pay MEHAR to his wife.The amount of MEHAR is fixed at the time of marriage,as ssuch a huge amount, generally beyond his capacity to pay in future, even if he wants TALAK.A survey to find % of TALAKS in Muslims needs to be done.As a human being I feel that no man can leave a loving wife for any reason.And this applies to all.Even so if he desires a divorce please be sure that the reason is not worth disclosing in public.
    4:Muslim man can marry four wives, Muslim females can marry only one husband.
    If a HINDU man wants to marry a second woman he has to change his religion accept Islam and marry a second wife. Hindu girl desiring to marry a Hindu boy she has to select from singles available, even if he is not capable of providing her or her forthcoming children the basic needs.
    5:Muslim wife who wants a divorce has to file a petition in court and plead and prove one of the grounds like cruelty ,adultery mentioned in Sec 2 of Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act 1939.This can take years.
    The same agony Hindu husband and wife both has to go through if they desire a divorce.
    While discussing I have deliberately avoided to mention the consequence on the family, society etc.
    Above points and many more like these may be considered for making uniform civil code.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Muslims are always ready for stopping cow slaughtering and bigamy, but it is the political class of our country which shows no courage, and will, in passing law in parliament because they want to keep the issues of hindu and muslim alive since it is their vote bank and they don't want to spoil their vote bank, In India Cricket and religion is like opium and once you have this two think you will not think about humanity and development.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mr. Katju,

    I suggest you to stop worrying about Muslims and revisit your dumb man-made laws that have made India infamous throughout the world for its extreme corruption and unimaginable crimes against women!

    ReplyDelete
  13. As I mentioned in my comment in the previous Post, Sir, I strongly vote for a common civil code and its predominance over all personal laws.

    Muslims must open their eyes, remove their blinkers and see that this is not the age of feudal Mecca and Medina .

    ReplyDelete
  14. If in a society there are far more females than males ( that is common in many western countries ), what would those women do who could not get married as law does not permit bigamy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is an idiotic argument for allowing polygamy. The point is, the law should not allow something like "upto 4". That is inhuman, barbaric, discriminatory. Period. Nature will balance itself on its own and these man made relgious barbaric laws should be removed

      Delete
  15. I don't know how polygamy is violating the rights of others, as far as the wife don't have the problem. If the girl has problem with her husband marring any other girl too then, She could mention it in her marriage contract that she dont want the guy to have a second wife. In every Islamic marriage there is a marriage contract in which couple can mention whatever the conditions they want. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_marriage_contract

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. here comes another stupid bigoted argument in favor of polygamy. First I ask you if you make it a law, many times the wife is abused and threatened to agree. you will not agree but that that happened a lot. Second if man can marry multiple wives then why your religion also not allow wife to have multiple husbands? You people ever think? no wonder the entire middle east is the most backward on the planet in every good aspect.

      Delete
    2. Wives are threatened and abused even for silly family fights, dowry, external marital affairs, and for many more reasons and believe it or not these cases are far more in numbers than polygamy, and more violent , some times threatening ended up with burning and killing.But reason for these are failing of our crime control system, our cheap thinking that a woman cannot marry for second time and have to force fully live with her husband no matter how violent he is. we made them so weak that they cannot even rise their voice against the violence. So making law against the polygamy is not the solution for this, we need to find the real reason. Even if you making the law there are few women only dare to go court against their husband.

      Delete
    3. Adcording to your twisted logic,because wives suffer in matrimony, polygamy is justified. So your argument is similar to saying that even in countries where there are laws has petty crimes, we should abolish laws against serious crimes! Are you a fool?

      Delete
    4. NO that is not what I mean. I mean polygamy is not the reason for violence against women, there are more people who are practicing it peacefully and and no one has right to stop them from practicing it because some other are not following it correctly, It is same as banning Hindu priests because of what Asaram did. But you cannot understand it because an anti-muslim virus is there in your mind which will not allow you to see what is right, kill that and you can see the positive side of polygamy.

      Delete
    5. Mr. Anonymous, in the first place why do you need polygamy ? What is so wrong with monogamy ? Why are you so bothered about polygamy and matrimonial violence ??

      Delete
  16. Women would get equal share in the inherited property. Muslim women should support. In these days money is so important as the expenses are so high.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nice article sir, I love to read this types of articles. Thanks a lot to share with us...... Click here for Latest Govt Jobs, Tech news, Blogging Tiricks, Earning Tips and more....

    ReplyDelete
  18. Being a very Scientific, Learned Lawyer can M.Katju stress in his Satyum Bruyuts that the trauma of child circumcision and daily exposure to animals being tortured to death before eating, skinning animals when still alive, seeing other children being brutally circumcised by “Near & Dear” fathers-mothers etc, is the main reason for the inhuman, un-natural traits the muslims display throughout their lives? So why not say it in so many words instead of semanticaly waltzing around Common Civil Code, Social Reform etc? Not 90% but 100% of Men of the Prophet are worse than animals.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I feel Uniform Civil Code is the need of the hour. Only those laws should be framed and enforced which are in the interest of the Nation. so the mantra should be "Nation First" (that includes equal rights for every individual, safe-guarding of the larger good, sustainable living and protection of all living beings - flora, fauna etc. At present male members of a particular community are permitted to marry multiple women and expand family. But more often than not, it harms the society, the Nation and the environment as they are unable to provide for "Roti, Kapda, Makaan and Shikshan" to their progeny. This results in imbalance in the Society - burden upon resources such as land, on Govt's policies, strain upon the Tax money available for the welfare of citizens., environment, law and order, increase in crime etc. So uniform civil code should be enforced to eliminate this anomaly in the present policies and laws which are framed keeping in mind the vote bank.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I do not agree with the statement 'Monogamy represents equality between men and women.' What about the Draupadi system still followed in parts of India where a woman is allowed to marry into a family of brothers and the property resides with her? Blindly replacing Indian cultural past with Western ones is fatalistic. Watch the film Ozhimuri for that. Imposing Victorian morality is no solution, nor is it a kind of equality.

    ReplyDelete
  21. ucc is prohibiting to other faith persons to comeback their original faith of hinduism
    anyone plz..comment on this issue

    ReplyDelete
  22. It took Dr. Ambedkar to wage a war against the undemocratic, patriarchal and repressive Hinduism of that period to bring in to existence Hindu Marriages Act 1955 !! Sir, you should have given some credit to him also...... There is not a single Muslim intellectual/leader who will have so much courage to do the same against Islam.

    ReplyDelete