Plea In Supreme Court Seeks Transfer Of Plea For Uniform Civil Code From Delhi High Court To SC

A plea has been filed before Supreme Court seeking transfer of plea pending before the Delhi High Court for direction to the Centre to constitute a Judicial Commission or High Level Expert Committee to prepare a draft of Uniform Civil Code, to the Apex Court.

The plea by BJP Leader and Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay has urged that the plea be transferred to Supreme Court and be decided collectively, in order to secure gender justice, gender equality and dignity of women in spirit of Articles 14, 15, 21 and 44 of the Constitution and International Conventions

The petitioner has approached the top Court stating that as more PILs may be filed in other High Courts seeking 'Uniform Civil Code', in order to avoid multiplicity of the litigations and conflicting views on interpretation of Constitutional Articles and judgments on gender justice and gender equality, the PIL should be transferred and be decided collectively.

The plea has alternatively sought directions to the Centre to constitute a Judicial Commission or Expert Committee to draft Uniform Civil Code within 3 months, while considering the best practices of all personal laws, civil laws of and international conventions, and publish it on website for at least 60 days for extensive public debate and feedback.

Another alternative relief sought is a direction to the Law Commission of India to draft a Uniform Civil Code within 3 months, while considering the best practices of all personal laws and civil laws of developed countries and the international conventions.

The plea has stated that women discrimination continues in male dominated societies in the name of religion even after 73 years of independence. The Constitution makers had envisaged 'Uniform Civil Code or Indian Civil Code' through Article 44 to give everyone equal rights and to strengthen and promote unity and integrity of the country but due to vote bank politics UCC has not been implemented.

"Article 44 is the soul of our Constitution & UCC has many benefits: Implementing the Uniform Civil Code/Indian Civil Code for all the citizens on the lines of "Indian Penal Code" will free the country and society from hundreds of the complex and outdated laws." the plea has stated.

The plea filed through Advocate Ashwini Kumar Dubey has stated that Uniform Civil Code will eliminate conservatism, fundamentalism, casteism, communalism, regionalism and linguism and develop scientific temper and humanism in spirit of the Article 51A.

"A comprehensive and unified gender-neutral & religion-neutral law will be passed at national level and will be equally applicable to all citizens, whether Hindu or Muslim, Parsi or Christian. Hence, it will not only promote fraternity unity and national integration but also secure gender justice gender equality and dignity of women." the plea has stated

While stating that by applying UCC to all citizens, everyone will be free from any inferiority complex, the plea has pointed out the following benefits of its application:

• Noble concept of "One husband - One wife" will be equally applicable to all the Indians and exceptions like infertility or impotence will be equally available to all Indians whether male or female, irrespective of religion.

• A gender-neutral religion-neutral law of divorce will apply to everyone, and under special circumstances, all citizens will be allowed to break the marriage in a verbal manner, whether it is a man or a woman, Hindu or Muslim, Zoroastrian or Christian.

• In paternal property, son-daughter and son-daughter-in-law will get equal rights and the property-based discord and gender discrepancy over property will be abolished.

• In the event of divorce, the husband and wife will have equal rights in the property acquired after marriage, whether he is Hindu or Muslim, Parsi or Christian.

• A gender neural religion neutral law will apply to all Indians in relation to the will, charity, divinity, guardianship, sharing of custody, etc

• The discrimination in the rights of Hindu Muslim Parsi Christian sisters and daughters will end. While the Hindu sister-daughters may not get much benefit because women and men already have almost equal rights in the Hindu marriage Act, Muslim sister-daughters will get the most benefit because in Sharia law they are not considered equal to men.

According to the petitioner, the Uniform Civil Code has always been seen as a spectacle of religious appeasement, and while the Supreme Court or High Court cannot ask the Government to implement Article 44 of the Constitution but can direct the Centre to constitute a committee to prepare a draft of Uniform Civil Code.

Referring to gender inequality , the petitioner has stated that inequality between girl and boy child, tends to get related to religion, the foetus in either case stays in the mother for 9 months. The discrimination between a girl and a boy was not established by 'God' but by man himself, is not a result of customs, religious rites and rituals but of male supremacy and ego, which made them oppress women.

"On the day a draft of 'Uniform Civil Code' will be prepared and the general public, especially sister-daughters will come to know about its benefits, no one will oppose it. The truth is that those who do not know anything about the Uniform Civil Code are opposing it." the petitioner has opined.

Case: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs Union of India

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