Comparison of Hindu and Muslim Personal Laws with Goa’s Portuguese Civil Code: Special Reference to Rights of Women

Abstract

Uniform Civil Code is one such topic that has been in debate since forever. Repeatedly, it has been seen that people use personal laws and their right to religion as a shield to fulfill their selfish purposes, in particular, to exploit the rights of women. “Article 44 of the Constitution requires the state to strive to secure a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India”. The sole state in India, which has a common civil code of its own, is Goa, which indicates that there is a hope that people can accept uniform code in other parts of the country as well regardless of their religion. The purpose of this paper is to appraise the need to enact a Uniform Civil Code by highlighting the discriminatory provisions against women prevalent in Hindu and Muslim law and comparing them with relevant provisions of the Portuguese Civil Code which govern the Goans.