Uttarakhand 1st state to bring uniform code bill

Uttarakhand became the first state in the country to take a first step towards a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), with chief minister, Puskhar Singh Dhami on Tuesday introducing the state Uniform Civil Code Bill 2024 in the state assembly amid chants of "Jai Shri Ram".

- Neeraj Santoshi and Amit Bathla

DEHRADUN: The bill, which seeks to standardise laws governing marriage, divorce, inheritance and maintenance, will subsume customary laws across faiths and tribes, and has been a long-standing objective of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and may serve as a template for other states.

"Our government, taking all sections of the society along with full responsibility, has presented the Uniform Civil Code Bill in the assembly. The historic moment is near for Devbhoomi when Uttarakhand will become a strong pillar of respected Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision of 'Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat' (One India, Great India)," Dhami said.

The bill, with 392 sections divided into four parts and seven chapters provides for equal rights to women in marriage, divorce, alimony and inheritance of property, proscribes certain kinds of relationships, bans polygamy, sets the marriageable age for men and women (21 years and 18 years respectively), and makes registration of marriages mandatory. The bill will not apply to the notified scheduled tribes of Uttarakhand.

The bill allows marriages under Nikah (Muslim marriage), Saptpadi (Hindi marriage), Anand Karaj (Sikh marriage) or any other religious form not otherwise prohibited under the proposed law. However, its provisions override Muslim personal law that allows marriage of anyone who has attained puberty.