Secularism and Uniform Civil Code

The Constitution envisages homogeneity to be brought about in respect of all aspects of Civil Law applicable to all Indians and Article 44 says that “the State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India”. In fact, except for marriage, divorce, adoption and succession, all other aspects of personal Civil Law are covered by statutes, which apply to all Indians irrespective of their faith. For example, contract, transfer of property, tenancy relationships, service rules etc., apply to all citizens, irrespective of their faiths. Laws relating to marriage, inheritance and adoption cannot be said to be part of religion, however sacred, the source may be believed to be. It has been suggested with some force that the issue is really one of gender. Exclusion of personal laws limited to only these three aspects of personal law is not a question of constitutional power but political expediency. At present, the laws relating to these three subjects are governed by the personal laws of the different faiths. For example, we have the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, The Muslim Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936, the Christian Marriage Act, 1872 and the Indian Divorce Act, 1869. Article 25, itself, does not speak of the personal laws of any religious denomination. On the other hand, it contains a clause giving power to the State to regulate and restrict economic, financial, political, or other secular activities that may be associated with religious practice. To a large extent, uniformity has already been brought about within the different faiths. Hindus in different regions and belonging to different sects had different personal laws and practices. These were brought under one umbrella by the Hindu Code Bill, which made the various personal laws uniformly applicable all Hindus. The Shariat Act removed the differences between the different sects of Muslims with regard, inter alia, to