New Delhi: Terming the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as a ‘significant bill’ which is the necessity of the hour, Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan stated it’s aimed toward empowering ladies.
The Uttarakhand meeting handed the UCC invoice final month, and the President gave her assent on Wednesday.
Some of its provisions together with the obligatory registration of live-in relationships have been criticised, with many stressing that it’s an invasion of privateness and interference in private issues of individuals.
Speaking to ThePrint, the meeting speaker defended the provisions of the act and stated that there’s a want for it on the nationwide degree, too.
Countering the argument that the vigilantes now have an “official” path to enter into individuals’s houses, Bhushan stated the obligatory registration of live-in relationships is actually for the “protection of the girl”.
“See, I again, believe it (registration of live-in) is a protection of the girl. I again believe this because most of the time, it is the woman which is, you know, left hanging. So I still believe for a young woman…it is a law which is coming for the young woman. Moreover, if you are an 18 year old or, and if you’ve decided to live-in with somebody, you’ve taken that decision. So if you’ve taken that decision, then you should have the gumption to accept it and tell the world about it, and be happy about it,” she stated.
Bhushan cited ‘love jihad’ the place younger ladies get married after spiritual conversion and are abandoned afterward. “There are a lot of things that are happening in smaller town societies which maybe do not come right up to Delhi. I know (cases of) love jihad where youngsters are turning and converting and then getting married and then leaving the girl high and dry.”
“I have realised one thing that we need to make our children aware and maybe this is a way of making them aware of what; how these situations can turn against them or how it can create problems. So I am looking at a young girl from a village, she doesn’t know what she’s getting into. So if she doesn’t know what she’s getting into, what she’s getting fooled into and then she’s getting into relationships which she doesn’t realise what she’s getting into. So I think this act is more for those youngsters who really do not know what they are getting into. And if you know what you’re getting into, then own it up,” she added.
According to the new act, it’s “obligatory for partners to a live-in relationship within the state, whether they are residents of Uttarakhand or not, to submit a statement of live-in relationship (sic)” to the native registrar.
Among different issues, it gives for upkeep “if a woman gets deserted by her live-in partner”, to be pursued by courts. It additionally states that any little one born out of a live-in relationship must be thought-about a legit little one of the couple.
The act additionally seeks to empower the registrar to refuse registration if one of many events was already in one other live-in relationship or marriage, or consent was obtained by drive, fraud amongst others.
“UCC is a significant bill. We want to empower our women; we want to give them the rightful position that is theirs. Whatever the religion, whether you’re a middle class woman or you’re rich class, upper class, the weakest link in the society is the woman. If there is a divorce, she has to face the brunt. If there are proper property rights, which are not given to her, it is she who faces the brunt. So Uttarakhand UCC is aimed at tackling such issues,” she instructed ThePrint.
Questioning the Opposition which has criticised a number of the provisions of the act and likewise focused the Pushkar Singh Dhami authorities for not involving all stakeholders within the session course of, Bhushan stated: “I believe that through UCC, we have tried to bring out an act, which will help the society develop in a better way in the future. We are looking at it in that sense and I believe that this is the need not only for Uttarakhand but the entire country.”
Everybody was taken on board in the course of the session course of and the committee that was tasked with drafting the Bill consulted varied stakeholders for nearly two years, she added.
When identified that a number of Muslim organisations really feel that the group is being focused by the UCC, Bhushan stated the act shouldn’t be in opposition to any specific faith or part of the society.
“Even in today’s 21st century, we have seen in towns and in villages if the husband passes away and if there is no child in the family, the property straight away, goes either to the brother in law or to the man in the household,” stated Bhushan.
“Is that right? I don’t think so. So, if she’s been given property rights, I think she deserves it and she needs it and she should be given because it’s her. Secondly, there are certain religions which say that the minute you start menstruating, you attain puberty, you are ready to get married. Is that right in the 21st century? Are we still living in the dark ages?” she countered.
The purpose is to teach women and girls in order that they will resolve their future and declare their rights, be it divorce or adoption, the Uttarakhand speaker stated.
“Why is it that 50 percent of this country is treated in a different manner? And more to say if criminal laws are similar in this country for everybody, for all the castes, for all the religions, for all the whether it’s upper class, middle class, for all the classes, then why should the civil law not be the same? So, I think it’s a brave decision,” she stated.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: 160-yr-old legislation on wills for contemporary India? Uttarakhand’s UCC has simply copy-pasted it
