The committee formed by the Uttarakhand government to prepare the draft of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) handed over the documents to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday.
In a program organized in Dehradun, chairperson of the 5-member committee and former Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai handed over the draft of UCC to Chief Minister Dhami.
A four-day special session of the Uttarakhand Assembly has been called from February 5 to pass the bill on UCC.
The draft will also be discussed in the state cabinet before presenting it as a bill in the assembly. The UCC will provide a legal framework for uniform marriage, divorce, land, property and inheritance laws for all citizens in the state irrespective of their religion.
It is also being seen as a blueprint for a central law on UCC. If it is implemented, Uttarakhand will become the first state in the country to adopt UCC after independence.
The 00-page draft report mainly focuses on equal rights for women in ancestral properties, equal rights for adoption, divorce, ban on polygamy regardless of religion and gender equality.
UCC committee members told HT on the condition of anonymity that the committee has suggested filling the registration/self-declaration form required for live-in relationships.
The committee has also demanded to make Halala, Iddat and Triple Talaq a punishable offence.
The minimum age of marriage for girls in all religions is 18 years.
The committee suggested that the minimum age of marriage for girls in all religions should be 18 years and for boys 21 years.
It is known that the legal age of marriage in the country is only 21 years for men and 18 years for women, but Muslim personal law legalizes the marriage of any girl who has attained puberty.
It is known that in 2021, the Central Government had introduced a bill to increase the marriage age of women to harmonize the age limit across all religions, but later it was sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Who will get exemption from UCC?
The UCC draft report suggests exempting Notified Scheduled Tribes from its scope. This is because they have got special status from the Constitution. It is known that in the total population of Uttarakhand, 2.89% are Scheduled Tribe people.
A total of 5 notified Scheduled Tribes people live in the state including Bhotia, Buksha, Jaunsari, Raji and Tharu. Most of these people live in US Nagar, Dehradun, Pithoragarh and Chamoli districts.
Jaunsari tribals call themselves descendants of Pandavas. They claim that polyandry helped them retain ancestral lands and properties given the limited land available for cultivation in the state.
no talk on population control
Nothing has been said in this report regarding population control. One member said, ‘There is no mention of population control in this.
In fact, the central government has already formed a committee to understand the challenges of population growth. He said that the Uttarakhand UCC Bill can be seen as a template for the central law.
At the same time, equal rights have been said on adoption. For this, it is said that it is necessary to follow the rules of Juvenile Justice Act.
Let us tell you that adoption is not recognized in Islamic law. According to the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015, any eligible parent, irrespective of religion, can adopt a child.