Introduction –
As benefit of Uniform Civil Code in civil law like family law, Uniform civil code benefits like common criminal laws, currently personal laws. Uniform civil code debate is discussed in India recently due to bill introduced in Indian Parliament. Different justice for each caste and a separate law for men and women, we have seen this in India for the last 70 years, but no government has been able to implement this law under the pressure of the society. In the western countries, there was a social revolution in the fifth century, which separated religion and politics, which led to the formation of law and order in the society properly.
This was the period in the western countries when intellectuals like Copernicus and Galileo had to suppress their views due to the pressure of the society despite being right, but the social revolution has developed the western countries a lot of the African and Asian countries. African countries have remained far behind in the same way, but Asian civilizations, despite being much developed and older than Europe, remained behind, the main reason for this is to hold on to the traditions.
Article 44 of the Constitution has shown the direction to the system of India that there should be a uniform civil code in the country, but till date no government has been completely successful in implementing it. The British had come to India for their own benefit, but the reforms done at that time should have been more than that in independent India, but it could not be called the politics of votes or personal interests, due to which the principle of equality could not get justice.
What is a Uniform Civil Code? –
Like in criminal cases, there is one law for all people in India, whose name is Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, there are many such laws in criminal cases which are common for all people. In civil matters, this law has been completely unsuccessful in making any government in the country, mainly because of social customs, traditions and some social interest, which creates racial discrimination and caste discrimination.
For this, this law has been brought in Parliament recently, but its purpose cannot be considered justified to make laws keeping any religion and caste in front. There has been a lot of opposition while doing social reforms in the world, the next generation of those who supported the practice of Sati in India accepted that it was a bad practice.
Similarly, if a society fails to distinguish between right and wrong with its customary tradition, then it lags behind in development and we see how the countries holding the orthodox tradition get stuck in it. If our consciousness of right and wrong is not developed, then we give the name of tradition to generational exploitation and selfishness, so this law has been brought on which problems have been created due to the pressure of society, it is a matter of great sadness for democracy.
Background of Uniform Civil Code –
In India, there should be uniform laws in British India for this, before which every caste and religion had their own laws in civil and criminal matters. This was the period that we get to see social and political upheaval in the western countries.
Discrimination in men and women, the problems of apartheid and according to this, different justice systems are seen in this period in Europe and America. In jurisprudence, more than one intellectual philosopher was creating literature in this period, due to which we felt the need to change the faults of the old traditions, in the form of which we started seeing this change in British India, even if it was taken in selfishness, but it started social change. It started happening
The British system for its own benefit only made social changes in criminal cases and brought such laws, including Indian Penalty, but in civil cases they avoided making changes. What we call the Uniform Civil Code today, in which there is no problem in other matters, but the government is also afraid of putting its hands in personal law and the possibilities of social protest are also enough.
In independent India, from the Hindu Code Bill to the Uniform Civil Code, the government has faced a lot of opposition to social reforms. But without social reform, we have to understand the reality that all people cannot get equal justice.
Importance of Article 44 of the Indian Constitution –
Fundamental rights, it gives freedom of religion to all the citizens of India, but when it comes to society, we keep the concept of “secular” country, in which many problems have arisen on the interpretation of this word, which is called “secular nation”. Caste system is our second biggest problem in which every caste is a separate system in itself.
When the constitution of India was made, its fundamental basis was the political system of Western and European countries, it was a long way forward to follow the social system. There are many admirers of the political system and there are many opponents too, but in these words and deeds, we get to see politics clearly.
Since independence, the Supreme Court and the High Courts of the states have spoken of a Uniform Civil Code in view of the problems in many cases, but there are many problems in making laws in direct. No government till date has failed to show the intention to make this law objectively. In which this law is seen to be called appeasement of any society or to target any society in a political way.
What is Hindu Code Bill? –
A committee was constituted in British India under the chairmanship of BN Rao, on the recommendations of which, after independence, in 1951, a few days before the constitution was implemented. This bill was introduced in the Parliament of the Constituent Assembly by Dr. Ambedkar ji, which faced a lot of opposition and this bill was canceled.
The Nehru government introduced this bill back in the Parliament, which was earlier separate from the Parliament and had an absolute majority government. These laws were made by separating this bill into four parts, in which Hindu marriage, heir, adoption law and guardianship law were made. No changes were made in the law of what was called the Hindu Reform Act and the rest of the religions were minorities, and some people believed that it was appeasement.
But till date, no government has been successful in implementing the Uniform Civil Code by being neutral, we have to see this reality. Under this law, women will get equal rights and all the citizens of the society will get equal justice, such provisions will have to be kept and will be just, which seems very difficult.
Personal Law –
From British India till today, civil cases of all religions are done according to their own religious law, in which we have to face the contradiction which the court has said many times in its comments. In personal law, Hindu law, Muslim law and Parsi law have been made such different civil laws. Talking about the method of marriage, in Muslim and Christian religions, marriage is considered a social contract.
In the same Hindu law, it is considered a sacred sacrament, so when the court has to give equal justice in a case, problems arise there. Although this method is not considered to be divided in Hindu law, but it has been included in the reform of the law, which is seen under the Special Marriage Act.
Many such strict rules have been told in the Parsi Personal Law which cannot be accepted in the judicial system. Therefore, bringing about a change in this personal law in the formation of a Uniform Civil Code has become a very difficult task from the social point of view. Without reforms, it becomes a very difficult task to take the society to the liberal level.
The law has interpreted Hindu, in which religions like Sikh, Buddhist and Lingayat are considered Hindu in this interpretation, but they have their own separate methods which becomes a cause of controversy and contradiction. Many laws are made completely different in tribal castes, so there is a lot of complexity in personal law.
Equal Rights of Female –
Whatever be the religion and caste, women have had to struggle a lot to get the rights and are doing it till date. This problem can be solved under the Uniform Civil Code, whether it is marriage law, property law or women’s rights.
In the western countries, it has to be fought a lot and during the Second World War, women have played their responsibility well at every level of society, so the British Parliament and many European countries have initiated equal rights for them.
In Middle East Asian countries, the struggle has started for this even today and the biggest problem for women is that the pressure of the society is so much that she cannot openly come forward for her rights. The second biggest problem is that she has not become financially and educationally capable enough to fight her own battle, so women of any religion have found it very difficult to fight.
Caste Base Discrimination –
The reason why it is so difficult to implement the Uniform Civil Code in India is because of the existence of the caste system, which is a system in itself, there are 6500 such castes in India and there are many sub-castes of each caste which are in themselves each other is unequal to.
This problem is not only of one religion, it is also found in other religions of India, so due to so much inequality, it is very difficult to implement this law. In America, the caste distinction is of only two classes, but in India this caste distinction is of thousands of castes, which is a complex problem in itself, but the intellectuals of India like to remain calm about it.
After the independence of India, this evil practice has been stopped by making it a fundamental right in the constitution, but in reality it is going to take a long time to finish this idea in the society. The basic problem of India is not economic inequality, the basic problem is social inequality, in which inter-caste marriage is considered a very difficult thing.
Special Marriage Act –
In order to handle the social diversity of India, the Special Marriage Act was enacted in 1954, whose basic objective is to remove the complexity in social methods. This provision has been made for those who want to do inter-caste marriage.
But in reality, this evidence is very less in the society because in seventy years the caste system seems to be getting stronger instead of eradicating which in itself is considered a big problem for the society. In reality, many laws are made, but they have to face a lot of difficulties to implement them directly.
To get married legally, at present this is the law made for all religions and castes under which marriages are registered. And this law is used in many cases like a property. Therefore, Uniform Civil Code will play a very important role in removing these complexities.
Political Views of Uniform Civil Code –
Not all political parties have tried to honestly end India’s inequality after India’s independence. Which is important because if this is done, then the social and political structure changes completely, of which the caste system has been the most important part. Whatever be the religion in India, but caste is found in all societies, which is a symbol of inequality and is non-social.
Therefore, insisting on a uniform civil code without violating the caste system, it appears to be a means of taking political advantage. In which one politics runs the name of appeasement and the other politics wants to maintain its politics by showing the flaws of other religions.
Without self-examination, one does not realize his mistakes, in the same way, the Christian Church in the Western countries considered it a priority for the development of the society, leaving its rights and took two steps back from its social domination.
That greatness is not seen in the Muslim religion of the Middle East and in India, so there is neither developed nor social change. The western countries continue to take advantage of which economically and politically. Uniform civil code is not so difficult to implement, but people who have dominated the society for thousands of years do not want to leave it so easily, only this issue is used in a political way.
Conclusion –
In this way, we have seen how difficult it has been to implement the Uniform Civil Code, we have to understand what the developed countries are involved in and which politics we are involved in. Our habit of seeing the faults of others works to hide what is wrong with us.
That’s why Western philosopher John Stuart Mill says that an intellectual is the one who can be neutral and take his decisions by reasoning, those who call themselves intellectuals, but if there is no honesty in the conduct, then they should be called ideological corruption.
The development of human intelligence had introduced man to humanity, but in many cases man becomes the most dangerous creature in the world who does not want to consider anyone equal. It can be said to be a mental illness, without treatment of which such laws cannot be implemented honestly in India.
In the Constitution itself in 1950, in the Guiding Issues, under Article 44, the system said that a Uniform Civil Code should be made, but everyone wants to put the responsibility on each other. The Constitution has given freedom of religion to the people in Article 25-28, it has been interpreted as “the person has been given the freedom of religion” and in the preamble of the constitution takes the promise of a system based on equality, liberty, fraternity and justice, which in its You have a lesson in how we should behave.