New Delhi: The All India Democratic Women’s Association Tuesday said just having uniform laws will not result in women getting equal rights or in wiping out the discrimination against them.
In a letter to the Law Commission, the Left-leaning group opposed the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and said it wants to appear before the panel for giving oral evidence. It also urged the Commission to hold wide consultations, particularly with women from minority and tribal communities, before deciding to recommend a common code.
The UCC refers to a common set of laws on marriage, divorce and inheritance that would be applicable to all Indian citizens irrespective of religion, tribe or other local customs.
The Law Commission had June 14 initiated a fresh consultation process on UCC by seeking views from stakeholders, including public and recognised religious organisations, on the politically sensitive issue.
The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) said it has unequivocally worked for reform, equality and non-discrimination in the personal laws of all communities.
It, however, added that “uniformity per se does not mean equality and cannot be equated with equality and justice for women. We also feel that uniformity is neither necessary nor desirable in India today”.
“AIDWA has actively participated in reforms in the Hindu Succession Act; Indian Divorce Act relating to Christians; and in the campaign against triple talaq besides reforms like the dowry laws, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Law against Sexual Harassment at Work Place, and the Law against Domestic Violence.
“We are surprised that the 22nd Law Commission is again examining the issue of a Uniform Civil Code as the 21st Law Commission has already categorically expressed its views against it,” it said.
The women’s group also said that it appeared the exercise being undertaken by the Law Commission is not a “serious attempt”.
“We do not understand the need to engage in this exercise again through a vaguely worded notice which provides no blueprint of what the Law Commission has conceptualised. Further, by asking for opinions within an extremely limited period of a month, we feel this is not a serious attempt to get the opinions of various organisations and people working on the issue, but is just a formality,” it said.
“It seems that the Law Commission has an agenda to somehow recommend a UCC as the BJP government of various states and the prime minister himself recently spoke in favour of it,” it said.
The AIDWA said it is “surprised” that the Law Commission has specifically asked religious bodies for their opinion on the vexed issue.
“The UCC is an issue which concerns women’s rights and equality and the Law Commission should prioritise all those working on the issue, including women of the communities. The present exercise, therefore, to re-examine the issue at the behest of the government is to bring about a UCC against the wishes of most women organisations and groups and the minority communities who had not asked for it,” it said.
“It is clear that this agenda is also being actively pursued by various BJP-led governments in states like Uttarakhand which have openly declared their intention to bring about the Uniform Civil Code,” the women rights group said.
AIDWA, further said, UCC is an attempt to “undo the existing Muslim law and laws which come under the Sixth Schedule pertaining to tribal areas”.
“We have seen how Muslim girls have been targeted for exercising their choice to wear a ‘hijab’ (head scarf), and how this has affected their fundamental right to education. Also, the central government, without protecting the rights of divorced Muslim women, initiated the law to put Muslim men in jail with an obvious communal intent for a practice that the Supreme Court had already declared null and void. Muslim youth who have been in consensual relationships with Hindu women have been targeted and jailed in several fictitious cases of ‘Love Jihad’,” it said.
The letter stated that the women’s group apprehend that on the pretext of re-examining the need for UCC, the effort will largely be to bring majoritarian laws, and not those which give substantive equal rights to women.
AIDWA requested the law panel not to re-examine the issue merely because the Union government is determined to bring about a UCC.
Modi, while addressing BJP workers in Bhopal last month, made a strong push for the common code, asking how can the country function with dual laws that govern personal matters, and accused the Opposition of using the issue to “mislead and provoke” the Muslim community.
PTI
