Perspective: Uniform Civil Code | 01 June, 2022 – Transcript

00:15uh namaskar viewers hello and welcome to sunset tv i'm tinaja you're watching

00:43perspective on the show today we are going to talk about a very pertinent but contentious issue the uniform civil code on the 29th of may a mega muslim congregation organized by jamiat ulema hind at devan in saharan poor district of uttar pradesh passed a resolution against the proposed uniform civil code saying it would be in contravention of not only the constitution of india but also shariat which is the islamic law regulating the muslim society in the country the resolution claimed that

01:11islam's laws on issues like marriage divorce inheritance etc have not been created by some society community group or person but that they come from their religious texts they are part of their religious directive and any changes to them or attempts to stop someone from following them is a clear interference with islam and the guarantee of freedom to practice and propagate religion given in section 25 of the constitution now this comes as more and more states

01:37mainly ruled by the bjp have announced plans to implement the uniform civil court in fact the uttarakhand government has constituted a five-member committee to draft a uniform civil court also chief ministers of states like assam and himachal pradesh have strongly pitched for implementation of the ucc the question here is the subject has been a matter of debate for years but whether it is feasible in india or not given the diversity india is known for how doable is the idea of bringing about unif the

02:04uniformity also what are the challenges in doing so to discuss this and much more on the program today i'm joined by a panel of experts let me first introduce them to you with me in the studio is mr firoz emma former chancellor maulana national urdu university thank you sir for your time and welcome to sunset tv and joining us virtually our three eminent panelists as well mr desjardins his advocate supreme court mr junaid harris

02:31faculty member department of islamic studies jamia milia islamiyah legal editor hindustan thank you gentlemen and welcome to sunset tv uh mr firoz bhakta ahmad let me begin the program today with you you moved the supreme court seeking direction to the government on formulation of the uniform civil code tell us more about what your petition had what was the contention and what has been the progress so far thank you

02:55tinaji and also sunset tv now before i answer your question let me first of all congratulate the team of your graphics which has made a wonderful uh picture there you know with you know hinduism christianity buddhism jewish every you know symbol is there so that's a very very appealing i mean graphic so i thought i should begin with that now thank you on their behalf okay

03:22thank you let me come to answering your question you asked me uh when did you file your you know ucc petition you know i filed it uh on 25th of october 2019 then i requested uh it to be you know in fact uh to be carried it to the supreme court to the apex court which was done recently in the month of i think january

03:49now why i filed it because you know i have been feeling that different ideologies maybe different kind of things like personal laws may be reservation for different sects of indian community all these things actually uh they they they actually they make india divided house which is not a good thing right india is on a fast track to becoming what we all say the

04:15vishguru the leader of the world and our prime minister mr modi has already become the world prime minister like what we used to see in john f kennedy or any other u.s president who was considered to be the president of the world today it is now let me add a couple of more things now you see as far as these personal laws are concerned whether these are muslim or christian or any other community in fact there's a lot of

04:43you know misuse of these laws espec especially when it comes to gender justice you know unfortunately women i mean let me say it openly i am a man but let me say it openly that women are not given their due whatever the religion is and let me tell you one thing when islam uh started in saudi arab in fact it was the the it was in fact the latest

05:09religion at that time that asked for equality of women and we actually used to say however that is fine but practically we see that women are not given their due they are divorced with a triple uh announcement of the word talaq which is the most heinous and horrendous thing in terms of you know even prophet muhammad

05:33peace be upon him he said that the the the filthiest thing according to me and also for god is this triple talaq in one sitting i mean you know then there are other things uh you know marriage the age of the girls and then maintenance eliminating laws gift property workboard all these things buff laws so this this was all humbuck and you know if there is a common law governing all all these

06:01parameters now you know if somebody somebody breaks into the house of a muslim that person goes to a police station fine that does not uh depend on sharia law that the the hands of that thief should be chopped it is not done so for other things also and let me assure all those people who might challenge me let me tell them especially from my own community my co-religion is that uniform civil code is not going to have any

06:27negative impact upon any tenet of islam or for a muslim and finally last sentence by me let me tell you we have requested the holy quote in fact the honorable quote that you know as far as the uniform civil code draft is concerned uh take the good points of all the religions and under the light of articles say uh

06:5425 and 44 uh you know this should be drafted and this draft should be by either indian law commission or a committee of experts it should then be open for debate and feedback to the people of india on the website so we get their views and reviews okay absolutely so on the future course of action of course i'll come back to you but because you've spoken about how this law will help you know address the problem of gender disparity and also bring about

07:22uniformity when it comes to matters like marriage divorce inheritance and adoption mrs let me get in your perspective now what has happened at this mega congregation at devon in saranpur just two days ago is that a resolution has been passed against any such moves to implement the uniform civil code why opposition to a law which will bring about uniformity in our country what is your perspective

09:48foreign absolutely so what actually happens and how states bring in uh their own laws is something that we'll have to uh see and then respond accordingly but uh mr negam coming to you to understand in the wake of recent developments how obviously there is vehement opposition now this is not a subject matter of debate that has emerged in recent times it has been a contentious issue for several years we

10:15speak about it there is women opposition and two main charges which we have been not able to address even till date is that it neglects india's diversity and that it is contrary to right to freedom of religion how are we going to address these two uh issues let us be very very clear that jamaat hints resolution is against the article 44 of the constitution which speaks of endeavors to you know implement uniform

10:42civil code that is one aspect and the supreme court has time and again said once a national policy is made on direct principle of state policy it is enforceable and they have uphold that they have always upheld that policy now coming back to the diversity issue and and and the other questions that you have raised if you recall i am going to slightly pre-independence race there was a

11:07karachi resolution of the congress which talked about uniform civil code even in a parliament it was uh you know everybody wanted uniform civil code yes the orthodox section of the muslims opposed it so the actually the code that used had to be uniform code turned out to be a hindu code bill which was further split into four uh acts like hindu succession act into marriage act adoption and maintenance act and uh

11:35guardian minority and guardianship so what was to be a uniform civil code became the hindu and and the reforms have been brought in the community and all hindus are governed by that if somebody is violating it there are ways of you know holding them accountable and bringing under the ambit of law now the fact remains that anybody who opposes this probably ignores the unilateral divorce which is

12:02there this cannot be under any circumstances can be upheld by any wildness of imagination polygamy in whichever religion it is and halal and let me tell you this is an inheritance so far equal rights to boys and girls and the daughters especially this is about the unity and integrity of the country and also gender equality and gender justice if you look at from the point of gender equality and gender

12:29justice i think all the arguments will you know fail the moment you say that daughter should have equal rights i don't think anybody can oppose that and and i'm telling you there are there are fathers who used to say there should not be any uniform civil code but once their daughters had to go through they all now are in favor of their uniform civil code once it happens to you then you come in favor of uniform civil code and there are plenty of and let me tell you in the courts i

12:56have met muslims they all want because they have gone through this you know inhuman practice of you know polygamy and all these kinds of things is very torturous imagine the kind of scar that leaves on the family and and the daughters that have to go through all this and the conservative and the orthodox do not want it the groups like jamaat want the entire indian society to remain in a black hole so that nobody comes out of it yes i agree that there should be

13:23wider discussion yes i agree it is not to be rushed through every opinion and shades have to be taken into consideration and you know let me tell you uh there has to be an exception here also scheduled tribes have their very different culture and they have been given protection under the constitution various protection under the constitution that aspect has to be dealt separately yes so in my opinion constitution it is the move if at all it comes

13:51in the parliament in the form of a bill it is constitutional valid in terms of article 44 and in view of the various you know judgments given by the supreme court and supreme court has time and again requesting the parliament to you know enact the law it cannot give a directive to parliament yes it has been requesting the successive parliaments you know to look into it and i believe the matter will be taken up urgently and some kind of an effort will be

14:18put in towards enacting this law as soon as possible certainly but you know given the opposition and the contentions that remain how the government will be build consensus on this is something that i'll come back to you and understand mr suman your perspective on how more and more bjp rule states are you know strongly pitching for the idea of uniform civil court in fact the pushkar hamilt government in uttarakhand has also formed a committee to actually look into this aspect and sort of fast track the

14:45implementation uh all this while we've only debated but in the wake of opposition and for reasons uh you know for multiple reasons the debate has died down only to re-emerge later this time some kind of movement in not one but at least half a dozen states how legally terrible how feasible do you think it's going to be yes teenage thank you you have asked very pertinent question and as mr negomp has already elaborated

15:11on the issue his supreme court has passed several judgment i remember at least five judgment where supreme court has said and asked the government and director the successive government time and again you enact ucc law when there is no impediment from the any side i think the court has given the direct mandate then you said