Wednesday 16 April 2025
Gujarat Government Formed a 5-Member Panel to Draft Uniform Civil Code
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The BJP government in Gujarat announced the formation of a committee, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, to frame guidelines for implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). The five-member committee, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai, will submit its report within 45 days, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said.
The announcement makes Gujarat the latest BJP-ruled state to move towards implementing the common code, following Uttarakhands rollout in January.
The UCC represents one of the BJPs core ideological commitments, alongside the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.Prime Minister Modihas personally championed the cause, making a strong pitch for nationwide implementation during a BJP workers meeting in June 2023.
Uniform Civil Codeis one of the hottest topics of debate in India these days. This code aims to make it mandatory to replace the personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religion in India with a common set governing every citizen.
Article 44 of the Directive Principles sets its implementation as duty of the State. By striking down instant triple talaq, the Supreme Court drew a clear line between constitutional rights and discriminatory social practices of a religion.
The debate then focused on the Muslim Personal Law, which is partially based on the Sharia law and remains unreformed since 1937, permitting unilateral divorce, polygamy in the country and putting it among the nations legally applying the Sharia law.
Under Muslim law, men have the right to contractually enter into four marriages at a time. Women on the other hand, are bound towards their husband and cannot enter into multiple marriages. UCC may abolish polygamy altogether which means that Muslim men stand to lose their right to legally wed four different women.
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