The Telegraph
Draft for progressive uniform civil code
Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, Oct. 11: A group of citizens have come up with a draft of a "just and progressive civil code" in a bid to widen the scope of the debate over a uniform civil code beyond religion to include gender and sexual orientation.
The draft, which calls for allowing same-sex marriages and red-flags the concept of Hindu Undivided Family, was presented to Law Commission chairman Justice (retd) B.S. Chauhan this morning, along with a letter of support from former attorney-general Soli Sorabjee.
The commission had last year tried to crowd-source views on a uniform code through a questionnaire that was criticised for being biased against Islam, in particular.
The commission had also been criticised for not putting out a draft for people to consider.
In his letter, Sorabjee referred to the commission's effort to put together a uniform code. "I want to join those who wish to ensure that any step ahead to bring everyone on the same page must be progressive and enlightened. The Law Commission should obviate any apprehension that anything uniform would be majoritarian. Besides its recommendations need to be far-sighted and progressive," he said.
"I think this draft would be a step in that direction and is worthy of the Commission's consideration," he added, forwarding the document drafted by lawyer Dushyant.
The draft of the "Uniform Civil Code, 2017" defines marriage as "a legal union of a man with a woman, a man with another man, a woman with another woman, a transgender with another transgender, or a transgender with a man or a woman".
The same is applicable to partnership/live-in relationships.
The draft is an initiative of Magsaysay awardees T.M. Krishna and Bezwada Wilson, academics Mukul Kesavan and S. Irfan Habib, the AAP's Gul Panag, literary critic Nilanjana Roy and retiredMaj. Gen. S. Vombetkere.
Marriageable age has been set at 20, removing the existing provision that allows women to marry at 18 and men at 21. "There is no rationale for having different ages for men and women, and there is general consensus that 18 is too young to marry," Dushyant told The Telegraph.
The draft bars consanguineous or blood-related marriages like those between siblings or with an uncle or aunt.
While the proposed code allows weddings to be conducted according to the different religious or customary practices, every marriage has to be registered with the urban local body or village panchayat concerned.
In the case of partnerships, both persons will have the same rights and obligations towards each other as a married couple after two years into the live-in relationship. As for divorce, the draft is clear that no non-judicial decree will have any legal effect.
On adoption, the code advocates equal entitlement to all couples - heterosexual, homosexual, transgender and live-in - to adopt a child irrespective of their religion.
Three different laws on adoption exist now, two of them religion-based. While Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists can adopt and the adopted children have legal rights, other communities only get guardianship of a child and neither side has any legal rights or responsibilities towards each other after the kid turns 18.
Consequent to a common adoption law for all, the succession and inheritance provision is also one across communities and sexual orientation. The various scenarios listed are religion-neutral and the stress is on equitable distribution, including a mandatory provision for looking after parents unable to care for themselves.
Apart from the dissolution of the Hindu Undivided Family, the draft has also listed existing laws that can be repealed once such a progressive uniform code is adopted.
These include the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the Muslim Personal Law (Sharia) Application Act, 1937, the Dissolution of Marriages Act, 1939, the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, and the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936.
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