UNDERSTANDING UNIFORM CIVIL CODE: ITS NEED AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

The demand to replace the religion-based and customary personal laws with the progressive, uniform civil code has been there since the pre-independence era and persists even today. Along with it, the intricacies and complexities also remain visible from the days of constituent assembly debates to the present. It is often argued that various aspects of the personal laws dis-privilege women and hinder the realisation of national integration. The laws need to be disassociated from religion, and concrete steps toward complete uniformity in civil laws are immediately required to be taken, like we have in the criminal laws. On the other hand, its antagonists consider it to be an attack on the right to freedom of religion in general and personal and customary laws in particular. Along with it, they have their own set of arguments opposing the demand for UCC. In the present academic venture, an effort has been made to understand the meaning and concept of the UCC by looking into its notion and the constituent assembly debates pertaining to it. The paper discusses the arguments advanced in its favor, like national unity and gender equality, etc. and also the arguments advanced against it. The arguments on both sides are substantiated with the required legislative provisions and decided case laws. The paper also provides a way forward for the issue in the enormously diverse and socially heterogeneous country of India.