ICC Note:
A former bureaucrat in India argued that India needs to adopt a uniform civil code rather than allowing different religions to use different civil laws. He argued that it is antithetical for a “sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republic” like India to have various laws relating to succession, adoption, and punishments. Since India has a common criminal code, it should also have a common civil law. A uniform civil code should provide level guidelines for all people in India, but a uniform civil code could be skewed in favor of Hindus which could put Christians at risk for greater persecution if the civil law is against their religious beliefs.
10/26/2016 India (The Hindu) – “The issue of Uniform Civil Code was not just about Tripple Talaq or Muslims, it is about the people of all religions in the country including Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Parsis and others,” former bureaucrat S.M. Jamadar said here on Wednesday.
He was delivering a lecture on “Uniform Civil Code: Need of Hour?” under the Foundation Lecture Series organised by KLE Technological University’s School of Management Studies and Research (SMSR) here on Wednesday.
Addressing management students and people from different walks of life, the former bureaucrat elaborated in detail the differences in various religious practices pertaining to different religions and how despite being a ‘sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republic,’ India had allowed various practices under different ‘Personal Laws.’
Taking exception to projecting the issue of Uniform Civil Code as an issue pertaining only to Muslims, he said it was wrong to project it like that and there was need to sensitize the people on the issue.
