Wrap-up: A not so uniform civil code

Marriage
Law relating to marriage and/or divorce has been codified in different enactments applicable to people of different religions. These are:
The Converts’ Marriage Dissolution Act, 1866
The Indian Divorce Act, 1869
The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872
The Kazis Act, 1880
The Anand Marriage Act, 1909
The Indian Succession Act, 1925
The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929
The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936
The Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939
The Special Marriage Act, 1954
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
The Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 and
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986.

Adoption
Although there is no general law of adoption, it is permitted by the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 amongst Hindus and by custom amongst a few numerically insignificant categories of persons.

Since adoption is legal affiliation of a child, it forms the subject matter of personal law. Muslims, Christians and Parsis have no adoption laws and have to approach the court under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890. Muslims, Christians and Parsis can take a child under the said Act only under foster care.

Once a child under foster care becomes major, he is free to break away all this connections. Besides, such a child does not have the legal right of inheritance. Foreigners, who want to adopt Indian children, have to approach the court under the aforesaid Act.

Maintenance
Obligation of a husband to maintain his wife arises out of the status of the marriage. Right to maintenance forms a part of the personal law.

Under Hindu Law, the wife has an absolute right to claim maintenance from her husband. But she loses her right if she deviates from the path of chastity. Her right to maintenance is codified in the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956.

Under the Muslim Law, the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 protects rights of Muslim women who have been divorced by or have obtained divorce from their husbands and provides for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 recognises the right of wife to maintenance-both alimony pendente lite and permanent alimony.
The Indian Divorce Act, 1869 inter alia governs maintenance rights of a Christian wife.

The Shah Bano case
A case in the mid-1980s involving Shah Bano, who took her rejected demand for alimony to the Supreme Court, triggered debate across India over whether the court had authority over Muslim personal law.
The court upheld her right to alimony, but its verdict was reversed by a law passed by the then-Congress party government after Muslim groups reacted angrily.
Any attempt since then to bring a common civil code has proved deeply divisive in the officially secular but mainly Hindu country.
Goa is the only state in India wherein we have a common law. Elsewhere several issues are decided by separate laws.

DC Take
It is extremely difficult to arrive at a consensus on a controversial issue like Uniform Civil Code in a pluralistic society like India. The opponents of this issue have often dubbed it as an assault on the secular fibre of the country. But, the need of the hour is that all stakeholders at least agree upon discussing and debating the issue threadbare. It is certainly not wise to reject any idea theoretically. If at all it happens, for sure it has to be a unanimous decision.

What is the issue?
The Constitution currently allows the country’s 1.2 billion citizens to be governed by their own religious laws when it comes to marriage, divorce and property inheritance. But the Narendra Modi’s government wants bring in a common civil code that it says will enhance national unity.

The resistance
On Thursday, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board said they would block any attempt to abolish Islamic family laws, which many Muslim women say discriminate against them.

Why has the issue come up now?
Law Commission has sought public feedback on a common law that would ban controversial practices such as polygamy and triple talaq divorce, under which a Muslim man can divorce his wife instantly with just three words.

Personal Law
The people of India belong to different religions and faiths. They are governed by different sets of personal laws in respect of matters relating to family affairs, i.e., marriage, divorce, succession, etc.