DEHRADUN, Jan 27: Uttarakhand on Monday became the first state in independent India to implement the Uniform Civil Code, which promotes equal laws for every citizen across all religions and standardises personal laws on marriage, divorce and property.
With the implementation of the UCC which applies to all people of Uttarakhand except those belonging to the Scheduled Tribe community, the BJP has fulfilled a major commitment made to people of the state ahead of the 2022 assembly polls which saw the party storming to power for a second consecutive term.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced UCC’s implementation at a programme at his official residence here, saying with this the constitutional and civil rights of people across all religions have become uniform.
“With the implementation of UCC, the BJP has fulfilled all its major ideological commitments including abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, illegalisation of triple talaq, the CAA and building of a Ram temple in Ayodhya,” the chief minister said.
He unveiled the notification on UCC, released its rules and regulations and launched a portal designed for the mandatory online registration of marriages, divorce and live-in relationships in the presence of his ministerial colleagues and members of the UCC drafting committee.
The chief minister was the first to register his marriage on the UCC portal. State Chief Secretary Radha Raturi handed over the certificate of his marriage registration to him.
Chief Minister Dhami also gave certificates to the first five people who registered on the UCC portal.
“The UCC creating equal laws for every citizen across all religions comes fully into effect at this moment. The credit for it goes entirely to the people of the state,” Dhami said at the function.
Dhami said he had gone into the 2022 assembly polls on the promise of a UCC and the people gave the BJP a huge mandate for a second time in a row to form the government and fulfil its promise.
“It is nearly three years since I made that commitment to the people of the state and now the day has finally arrived when we are fulfilling that promise,” he said.
Trying to bust the myths surrounding it, Dhami said the UCC is not meant to target any religion or community as often thought.
“It is a constitutional tool to end all legal discriminations in the name of caste, religion or community. It will put an end to all evil social practices like ‘Halala’ and ‘Iddat’,” Dhami said.
The UCC does not interfere with the marital rituals of any community, he said, adding that most Islamic countries of the world have implemented such laws.
Explaining why Scheduled Tribes have been kept out of its ambit, he said it has been done so that it does not intrude upon their unique social and marital practices.
Denying allegations that by making the registration of live-in relationships mandatory the UCC usurps the privacy of live-in couples, Dhami said it was meant only to protect the lives of women by keeping a digital record of their relationships so that they are not subjected to violence.
It marks a historic moment as Uttarakhand is the first state in independent India to bring into effect a UCC, modelled basically upon the vision of a single set of laws applying to all citizens, regardless of their religion as enshrined in Article 44 of the Constitution. (PTI)
