Uniform Civil Code: Do We Need One?
By S.G.Vombatkere
19 January, 2015
Countercurrents.org
Article 44 of The Constitution of India (Directive Principles of State Policy), reads thus: “The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India”. But even 65 years after the Constitution came into force, there is no uniform civil code (UCC), because successive Parliaments and governments have failed to implement this directive principle.
The present NDA government may move to implement a UCC especially since it formed part of the ruling BJP's election manifesto. It would need to draft a UCC and get all citizens to agree to its provisions. Naturally, all citizens cannot be consulted, but certainly the leaders of various social and religious communities would need to be consulted. In a society as diverse as ours, this is surely a daunting task, and citizens need to guard against UCC being made into a communal issue because the subject matter is a civil code.
Article 44 as a directive principle enhances social justice and equality which the Preamble to the Constitution guarantees all citizens. A UCC would deliver a set of secular civil laws to govern all citizens irrespective of their religion, caste, tribe or sex. It would concern the legal aspects of all social events and transactions including birth, death, marriage, divorce and maintenance, succession, inheritance, adoption, etc., which relate to constitutional rights and freedoms, but NOT the social practices and cultural customs, such as rituals, procedures, ceremonies, dress or language.
Traditionally, males have formulated written and unwritten rules to constitute personal “law” based on their gender-biased interpretation of scriptures. Today, males effectively dictate dress, speech, behaviour, conduct and status in society and in the home for both males and females, but with a general bias favouring males and against females. Thus, a UCC would, in general, liberate girls and women from domination by males within the family, the community and society. This applies to all religions across the board. Indeed, replacement of personal law by a UCC may be opposed only by the male-dominated orthodoxy in every religious community.
To take a more focussed view of the civil code issue, consider an Indian of whatever religious denomination living in a foreign country. He/she is required to adhere to the civil law of the land when, for instance, entering into the social transaction of marriage. Whether he/she takes a spouse of any religion who is an Indian national, or a foreign citizen of Indian origin, or a citizen of some foreign country, the marriage would be legal only if it is registered in the manner prescribed by civil law of that country. This is unconnected with the religious ceremonies, rituals or celebrations that they may choose to observe before or after the legal marriage. With regard to marriage, bigamy is a civil offence in most countries to which most educated or economically better-off Indians travel for study or work. Clearly, acceptance of the monogamy condition of foreign civil law concerning marriage by such an Indian does not militate against his religious beliefs. This example of marriage illustrates the separation between social (civil) transactions which are common to all citizens, and the social (religious) practices and customs which may differ even between north Indian and south Indian communities of the same religious tradition.
There is no conflict between social occurrences or events (birth or death) and transactions (marriage, transferance of property, etc.) on the one hand, and religion which concerns an individual's “connect” with his/her maker, which may prescribe personal behaviour and conduct, on the other. Most events include ceremonies or at least observances like appropriate dress, with significance according to cultural-religious custom. The difference in appropriateness of colour of dress, for example, is humorously depicted in Hirani's box-office film hit “PK”, in which a white sari worn by a Hindu woman denotes widowhood, while a Christian woman may wear a white dress for her marriage ceremony.
Thus certainly, a UCC cannot dictate the details of ceremonies, rituals or observances concerning a cultural-social-religious event, even if it has jurisdiction over the civil-legal event itself. Since the Constitution assures all citizens the liberty of belief, faith and worship [Note 1], religious ceremonies, which may be related to personal events like births, deaths and marriages, cannot be codified universally nor dictated by law.
Notwithstanding, there is confusion between social events/transactions on the one hand, with (male-dominated) religious belief on the other. Due to this confusion, Sangh Parivar Hindus who demand a UCC may dream that it would give them more majoritarian political power over minorities. Similar confusion causes resistance to a UCC from among minority religious groups, namely, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains, who may fear that a UCC will interfere with their religious practices, destroy their socio-cultural identity, and make them subordinate to the majority community. This confusion among the majority community which hopes for political advantage and among the minority communities which fear loss, causes conflict when, in reality, a UCC will deliver social justice and equality to all, especially girls and women.
The Preamble to the Constitution assures social, economic and political justice, liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, and equality of status and of opportunity, to all citizens. Justice, liberty and equality are complementary, and not mutually exclusive. Therefore, a UCC will provide equality of status and opportunity which in turn will enhance social justice and equity, without in any manner impinging upon liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. It will bring wide social benefit. However, political leaders and civil society intellectuals have an important responsibility and role to proactively ensure that the process of formulating a UCC is not sullied by confusion caused inadvertently or deliberately, by those who may have a vested interest in hegemony within their own religion, or in communal disharmony.
Note 1. A short note on religion. Religions are based upon belief, faith and worship: (1) Belief in a divinity, (2) Faith in the philosophy of the founder's experience of that divinity, (3) Faith that the divinity affects believers' lives and circumstances, and (4) Worship through following certain observances & abstentions – Do's & Dont's – and rituals, as overt expressions of belief and faith. The last are prescribed by the priestly class based upon their interpretation of that particular religion, and legitimised by powerful persons in that society. Society as a whole rarely examines the validity of rituals etc., nor disconnects them from the philosophical essentials and the fundamental faiths of their particular religion. Persons who demand adherence to religious dogma are generally those who derive non-spiritual benefit from religion, while those who question or fail to obey religious dictat are termed heretics or held guilty of blasphemy. History is replete with instances of heretics who founded new religions with, in turn, their followers imposing fresh dogma on the adherents and converts.
Major General S.G. Vombatkere, VSM, retired in 1996 as Additional DG Discipline & Vigilance in Army HQ AG's Branch. He holds a PhD degree in Structural Dynamics from I.I.T, Madras. He is Adjunct Associate Professor of the University of Iowa, USA, in international studies. With over 400 published papers in national and international journals and seminars, his current area of interest is strategic and development-related issues. E-mail: [email protected]
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