Unified Civil Code in India IV - It is already here!
Thus far, we have seen what the constitution and the courts say about a common civil code and also seen how it does not target any single community. One main sentiment that we have seen in our discussions that most of our friends expressed is the difficulty of coming up with a solution that is acceptable to all. Now, the main issue of practicality of coming up with such a solution was attributed to the cultural diversity of India and how in the world can a common civil code reflect the collective morality of the nation. Is a unified civil law possible only in countries with fairly uniform demographics or is it possible in a country like India?
Well, there is good news! We do not have to look far for that. Not many people are aware of the fact that the state of Goa has a unified civil code within the state called ‘Family Laws’ that is accepted by all communities – Hindus, Christians, Muslims and others. This Goan civil code is of absolute importance to the rest of India. The main feature of the Goan family laws is the concept of absolute equality. This set of laws is non-discriminatory to all regardless or gender, cast, ethnicity and religion.
In the rest of India, a divorced woman, be her a Hindu or Muslim, may not even be entitled for any support or maintenance and even if she gets some, she is allowed only a paltry sum of fifty rupees a month. However, by the Goan law, according to legal experts, men and women have equal rights in affairs of divorce, separation, share of couple’s property, succession, guardianship of children, gifts and adoption. This equality can be attributed to its roots of the original Portuguese family laws. that most notably, were carried over to their colonies very unlike how the British went about in their colonies.
Nonetheless, I should admit that there are some discrepancies in the Goan law like the one in which law sanctions a second marriage for the Hindu husband if the first wife has not delivered an issue till the age of 25 or (even worse) if she has not delivered a male issue till the age of 30. Nevertheless, once these ridiculous provisions are corrected, we can use the Goan Family law as a good reference or guidance while coming up with a unified civil code that is acceptable to all.
It is also to be noted that some Muslim fundamental clergies have tried to revoke this Goan Family law and demanded for the Muslim Personal law of the rest of India to be put in place. Yet, there was a counter movement against this and in the end the liberal Muslims were found to be in majority in Goa and the attempts by these mullahs to extend Sharia law to Goa were thwarted.
In conclusion, we should all work together to achieve the constitutional mandate of implementing a unified civil code in the country. We should all let go of the fears and be strong for this. It is not just about any one community. It is about enacting a legislation that is sixty years overdue. The leadership for this could well be taken by the Congress party who can take care of the concerns about minority rights, that they themselves always come up with, as an excuse for not conforming this guidance of the Constitution. Remember, Goa is a diverse state, with bigger minority populations than national average and still such a law has proven its merits over many many decades.
If this worked in Goa, can we not get it done anywhere else? Give me one good reason why we cannot make it work?
Sources:
1. Goa’s Civil Code (The Family Laws)
2. Goa: A success story of a unified civil code.
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October 12th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Goan civil law is just an implementation of what we are discussing about. But let me tell you, myself being a muslim does not support to the unifying civil law specially in the case of Divorce, because what we (only muslims or who ever read and believe quran who live on earth) learned so far does not satisfy with an anti islamic divorce rule. In this case a community (remember this community is also a part of constitution) rights are violated, sacrificing this for the unity of a civil divorce law is not good (atleast in the case of divorce).
Things said in quran are for the benefit of people (does not mean the whole indians have to adopt unless it is carefully learned and understood).
Thalaq system(islamic divorce system) should be untouched (as thats a punishment for people who are muslims and get divorced, no matter what ever ones fate is).
October 12th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
@SAF
you are getting too irrational about this. Why should the indian govt care what your rules are. You can setup your own rules in the community which will not clash with the civil code.
For eg:- if your rule insists that a girl be married to someone else before she can reunite with her earlier divorced husband, you can do it. There are no problems with it. But the civil marriage laws will be applicable to that also.
And BTW according to Indian rules, men and women are equal. If your religion has a problem with that, deal with it internally. The court system will only support equality.
October 12th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Thats what our civil laws are saying, its basically unique in structure. When the sub laws enter in to scene there is no other way to merge with the central civil law. Thats what happened and still in practice. What I said is not to enforce law which may contradict with the religious believes and customs.
Eg: If after divorce a man and women decide to reunite with the support of civil law(central unified) throwing away the true islamic rules, the generations to come will be affected with the related rule.
Even if the religion can have their own rules beyond civil law, then whats the need of unifying? Later one day islam will start a new court with their own laws which will be forwarded from the so called central courts for easiness, days will come like that which will look like what is now, may be more worse. Now atleast we have a central divorce law.
Hope I am clear to you.
October 13th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
What I said is not to enforce law which may contradict with the religious believes and customs.
We cant have rules that satisfy all the religions. What if tomorrow someone starts a new religion and says, my god asked his followers to marry only girls below 18 years of age. Should this be allowed ?
Islam can have its own laws, but wont be valid in the court of law. A true Islam follower can follow that, but never take it to the court in case of a dispute.
October 13th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Aahh thats absolute 100 marks point. Dont take things to court of ones own religion, but they should have the freedom to express things of their own belives.
October 13th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
This is really Interesting. A state like Goa having a UCC! So it is practical - the only thing missing is the political will…
October 13th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
@SAF
That is absolutely the way to go in a secular state.
A common sets of law governs all the people in the country.
What they do according to their religious beliefs is none of the government’s business.
If some religious customs violate any national law, for example, if the religious customs cannot treat women as equal to man, it is not government’s problem, the law stands and that community has to solve the problem internally in such a way that these laws are not violated.
October 13th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Personally, I feel there is a need of Uniform Civil Code in India. This code should not be a blind imitation of religious code. We can accept good rules from religious laws and avoid controversary rules and bad rules. It should not be an Atheist Civil Code and a RSS/BJP/Bajrangi Civil Code.
Goa is a classic example which we can adopt.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Not only in the case of marriage most of all family laws are under the clutches of religion. Here the discussion holds a view that unified laws can neutralize the diversities among the people once it is implemented. But we have already had a special marriage act which is completely detached from these religious barriers. So if someone want to pursue this law on their marriage they can. Eventually the concept of unified law will be established through out India. This is the only practical solution or concluding solution that I can put forward to all the readers of this blog as we are far behind the political,religious manipulators who are capable of tackle the billions of people.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:54 am
@Sarath
I agree that the special marriage act is detached from the religious laws.
But I’d rather have the same applicable for all the people. Because out of the total population, how many people are going for the SMA?
If we can increase that to virtually everyone in the country, if we can, that would be as effective as a UCC, although it only covers the marriage…