About:
It discusses a range of provisions within all family laws, secular or personal, and suggests a number of changes to in the form of potential amendments and fresh enactments.
View of consultation paper on following areas:
- Uniform Civil Code (UCC):
- UCC is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. Cultural diversity cannot be compromised for achieving uniformity and on the name of secularism.
- Instead of UCC, codify all personal laws so as to remove the prejudices in them.
- Age of Marriage: Fix the marriageable age for boys and girls at 18 years so that they marry as equals and to remove the stereotype that wives must be younger than their husbands.
- Divorce:
- Introduce new grounds for ‘no fault’ divorce accompanied by corresponding changes to provisions on alimony and maintenance.
- Upon divorce, a woman should get an equal part of the property gained after marriage.
- Under Muslim law the paper suggests the following:
- Nikahnamas should make it clear that polygamy is a criminal offence and this should apply to “all communities.
- Reform inheritance law by codifying Muslim law on inheritance, but ensuring that the codified law is gender just.
- Adoption: Expand the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015, to make it into a robust secular law that can be accessed by individuals of all communities for adoption.
