Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code: Here Are The Latest Updates As State Assembly Takes Up The Bill

The BJP government in Uttarakhand is set to table the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill in the state Assembly today (6 February).

This comes after the state Cabinet led by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday (4 February) the UCC draft report submitted by a retired SC Justice led panel.

The expert panel appointed by the Uttarakhand Government to draft the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill had submitted its report to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday (2 February).

The committee headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Desai handed the UCC draft to CM Dhami in Dehradun.

Here are the key provisions in the bill:

The five-member expert committee has proposed a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) draft which focuses on women's equality and suggests prohibiting polygamy.

The bill also aims to standardise the marriage age across religions and make certain religious personal law practices punishable.

The UCC draft proposes making halala, iddat, and triple talaq – practices governing marriage and divorce under the Muslim personal law – punishable offences, Indian Express reported citing sources.

It also proposes making the legal age for marriage, for both men and women, uniform across religions.

Further, the draft also recommends exempting tribal communities from the purview of the bill.

The bill is expected to exclude the state's notified Scheduled Tribes, who make up about 2.9 per cent of the population.

Prominent tribes in Uttarakhand include the Jaunsari, Bhotiyas, Tharu, Raji, and Buksa.

In these tribal communities, practices such as polyandry and polygamy are still observed, albeit less commonly now.

To make adoption rights uniform, the panel recommended uniformly following the existing laws under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

Additionally, mandatory registration for live-in relationships has also been recommended.

The draft UCC panel report is divided into four volumes. The first is the committee’s report, the second is the draft code in English, the third is a public consultation report of the committee, and the fourth volume is the draft code in Hindi.

Other BJP-ruled States to Follow Suit

After the UCC Bill is passed in the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, it is expected that two other BJP-led states, Gujarat and Assam, will introduce and pass similar legislation in their respective assemblies

If everything goes as per plan, three states will have enacted the Uniform Civil Code before the Lok Sabha elections in the next few months.

UCC- A Pre-Poll Promise Kept

The UCC was one of the major poll promises of the BJP in the run-up to the state Assembly elections in February 2022. The committee was announced after the first Cabinet meeting of the newly-formed Uttarakhand government.

The panel received over 2.3 lakh suggestions from the public, most of which were received through letters, registered posts, emails, and written suggestions through its online portal.

By September last year, the committee had also held 38 public meetings across the State and received suggestions through public interactions.

A total of 72 meetings were called to interact with around 10,000 people and study the suggestions received.