The High Court of Karnataka has appealed to Parliament and state legislatures to move forward with the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC), calling it a crucial step toward realising the Constitutional ideals of justice, equality, secularism, and national unity.
The comment was made by the single bench of Justice Sanjiv Kumar during the hearing of a case related to a property dispute.
The case was related to the partition of the property of a Muslim woman, Shahnaz Begum, after her death, in which the woman’s husband and her siblings were parties.
The Court found that there was a huge difference in the rights of women under various religious laws, which hurt the constitutional principle of equality.
Justice Kumar said that the Uniform Civil Code is mentioned in Article 44 of the Constitution, and only by implementing it can equality and justice be guaranteed to citizens.
He particularly highlighted the unequal status of women, who are still denied equal rights due to religion-based personal laws. For example, where daughters are given equal rights in Hindu inheritance law. In Muslim law, sisters often get a smaller share than brothers.
The court further stated that states like Goa and Uttarakhand had taken initiatives in the direction of UCC and now the time had come to implement it across the country.
The court ordered a copy of its verdict to be sent to the principal law secretaries of the Centre and the Karnataka government so that they the legislative process on it could be initiated.
The legal aspect of this judgment was related to the property dispute, but Justice Kumar’s comments have brought the debate back into the discussion as to whether the time has come to implement the UCC in the country.
Citing the views of constitution-makers like Rajendra Prasad and Maulana Hasrat Mohani, he said that only a uniform law can lay the foundation of true democracy.