UCC: Women as Key

Abstract

The words Religion, Caste and Culture when heard strikes an emotional turmoil in the minds of most Indians. The same words have also invariably crept into the Indian legal system. India was successful in removing the barriers of Religion, Caste or Culture when it came to Criminal Law, however, when it raised to do the same in the matters of Personal Laws, we welcomed this decision with protests. This debate of whether or not we need a uniform structure of Personal laws, which include matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance, adaption, etc. which are undeniably close matters to our religious actions in the Indian scenario is discussed in this paper. This issue of the Uniform Civil Code has a huge impact on the lives of the religious minorities and also the lives of women in general. On one side it hits the old outdated barbaric practices of a few laws such as the Shariat Application Act which has stripped down the most basic rights of women, and on the other side it challenges a person’s rights to practice and profess his own religion which mandates him of following the same said laws. Thus, keeping in mind the few cases such as the famous Shah Bano case or the recent Shayara Banu case which brought about this discussion to a whole new level, I would like to discuss the effect such cases have on the future prospect of the Uniform Civil Code in India. As this law is facing the maximum opposition by practitioners of Islam, it is important for us to analyze the effect of Personal laws on women, particularly on Muslim women while keeping the abovementioned cases in the backdrop. I firmly believe that bringing about a change and making article 44 of the Indian Constitution a reality will lie in the hands of Indian women alone.