Uniform Civil Code to make courts ‘religion neutral’: Govt

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 24

By implementing “Uniform Civil Code” in the country, the Narendra Modi government intends to make all civil courts “religion neutral”. This is exactly what the Ministry of Law & Justice has written to the National Law Commission, while asking it to give the ministry a report on “possible implementation of the Uniform Civil Code”.

In its communication to the National Law Commission, sources said, the government had argued: “The aim of Uniform Civil Code is to divest religion from social relations and personal laws to ensure equality, unity and integrity of the nation and justice to both men and women.”

Explaining further the Law & Justice Ministry’s move to seek a report from the Law Commission on the subject, a senior government official said, the government “does not intend to turn laws governing Hindus into Uniform Civil Code”. He said, “The intention is to adopt virtues of all prevalent personal laws and make all civil courts in the country religion neutral.”

In its communication to the Law Commission, the government has also asked the panel to look into examples of Germany, Italy, Egypt and Turkey, where societies are heterogeneous and still “civil code governs people uniformly in such matters”. It further argued that in “our country, in the state of Goa, there is one civil code”.

Making a case based on the arguments mentioned above and also quoting Article 44 of the Constitution as part of the Directive Principles, the government has also claimed that the state has a “duty” to implement a Uniform Civil Code in the country, but since the matter is sensitive and requires an in-depth study, it has been sent to the Law Commission for recommendations.

Incidentally, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Law & Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, Article 44 “provides that states shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India”.

Prasad recently said the government decision to refer the issue to the Law Commission should not be linked to the forthcoming UP Assembly poll.