Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court reinforced its support for the concept of “one nation one law” on March 10, asserting that the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is crucial for eradicating gender discrimination in various legal aspects such as marriage, succession, inheritance, and property rights, particularly under Muslim personal law and other customary laws.
Hearing a petition challenging Muslim inheritance rules as discriminatory to women, the apex court indicated that longstanding concerns over gender discrimination in personal laws may ultimately require legislative action in the form of a UCC, reported the Hindustan Times.
During the hearing, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi repeatedly pointed to the constitutional directive for a UCC, suggesting that structural reforms in personal laws across communities may be better addressed through legislation rather than judicial intervention. “The answer is a Uniform Civil Code,” observed the bench while hearing submissions from advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioners.
The court was considering a writ petition, moved by advocate Poulomi Pavini Shukla and Nyaya Naari Foundation, challenging provisions of Muslim personal law relating to inheritance, which the petitioners argued deny Muslim women equal rights compared to men. At present, different religious communities in India follow separate personal laws.
Hindus are governed by statutes such as the Hindu Marriage Act and Hindu Succession Act, Christians by the Indian Christian Marriage Act and Indian Divorce Act, and Parsis by the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act. Muslim personal law, in contrast, remains largely uncodified and is derived from religious texts, though certain aspects are recognised through statutes such as the Shariat Application Act, 1937 and the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939.
