Uttarakhand has emerged as a trailblazer for other Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states as the Unifor🅘m Civil Code Bill is passedꦛ. The passing of UCC is being hailed as a big win for the party which has repeatedly emphasised it as a cornerstone of its electoral pledges. Echoing this development, Rajasthan has expressed its intent to present a UCC bill in the upcoming assembly session.
The state’s diverse population will now be governed by a common set of laws in matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption, irrღespective of whichever section of society they belong to.
The Uniform Civil Code, hailed as a saviour for wo🧸men's rights by the BJP, has, in the past, faced criticism from the opposition for purportedly targeting one community. Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami, however, dismissed these claims, asserti🔯ng that the bill aims to ensure “the right to equality to everyone without any discrimination” on civil matters.
Th🐼e bill bans people from having more than one spouse, makes♈ it necessary to register marriages, treats all children the same regardless of how they were born or adopted, and gives both men and women the same rights to inherit property.
The Bill retains the exception from t𓄧he Hindu Marriage Act for married couples who fall within the “degrees of prohibited relationships”.
Live-in relationships have also found a mention in the Uniform Civil𝔍 Code. A live-in relationship would only be considered lawful if registered. Failing to do so would amount to three to six months of jail time.
While all sections of society will ꦅhave to abide by the same set of rules, the Ad🏅ivasi community has been exempted.
In Outlook's 'Uniform Civil Code' issue from June last year, reporters looked at Adivasi women’s urgent need for a writ♔ten code ensuring their right over not just the☂ir ancestral property but also over property owned by their in-laws.
Under the Adivasi customary laws women do not have ancestraꦇl property rights and have long been fighting for them.
The idea of a Uniform Civil Code gave them hope and was gaining traction within the women of the scheduled tribes. However, the indigenous people have been left out of the UCC.
