Congress members list flaws in UCC bill, demand sending it to select committee
Thursday, 08 FEBRUARY 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Congress members listed many flaws in the draft of the bill on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) during the discussion in the Uttarakhand Assembly on Wednesday and demanded that the bill should be sent to the select committee of the house for further discussion and analysis.
Chakrata MLA Pritam Singh said the many provisions of the bill are not in accordance with the constitution of India and laws passed by the parliament from time to time. He said that the draft bill avers that it will also extend to the residents of Uttarakhand living outside the territories of the State. Singh questioned as to how the bill will be applicable to such people. He said that the Supreme Court in the Mamta Rani versus State of Rajasthan case had stated that registration of live-in relationships is an imprudent idea but this is exactly what is being proposed in the UCC draft. Terming the provision of the UCC draft bill against the basic framework of constitution Singh said that the SC in the landmark judgement in Kesavananda Bharati versus State of Kerala case had said that the basic framework of the constitution cannot be changed. Kiccha MLA Tilak Raj Behad opined that any law on UCC should be brought by the Centre and not any State. He said that the Central Law Commission in its report had given its opinion against implementation of UCC in the country. Behad said that the State government is acting in haste on the issue. Khatima MLA Bhuwan Kapdi said that there is nothing new in the provisions of the bill regarding marriage regsistration, child marriage and divorce as they are already covered under provisions of law. He added that the only thing which is different in the bill is the legal status given to the live-in relationships. Kapdi also objected to the Hindi word (Sahwas) used to represent such relationships. He said that this is an attack on the privacy of youth and would create many legal tangles in future.
Pratapnagar MLA Vikram Singh Negi said that the Central government is using Uttarakhand as a laboratory and the draft of the UCC bill is like an election pamphlet of the BJP. He said that the minimum age of marriage of women should be raised to 21.
Congress MLA Ravibahadur said that the government should have first amended relevant sections of the constitution and then brought the UCC.
BSP MLA Mohammad Shahzad said that the UCC will increase ligitigations and create division in families. He said that the right of Iddat (mandatory waiting period for remarriage after death of a husband in Muslims) should be given to women. He also claimed that cases of abortion will also increase after the implementation of UCC.
