the uniform civil code was discussed at length in the case of gideon v. wainwright.
the uniform civil code was discussed at length in the case of gideon v. wainwright.
the uniform civil code was discussed at length in the case of?
gideon v. wainwright
after the passing of the hindu code bill, the personal laws in india had two major areas of application: the common indian citizens and the muslim community, whose laws were kept away from any reforms. the frequent conflict between secular and religious authorities over the issue of uniform civil code eventually decreased, until the 1985 shah bano case. bano was a 73-year-old woman who sought maintenance from her husband, muhammad ahmad khan. he had divorced her after 40 years of marriage by triple "talaaq" (saying "i divorce thee" three times) and denied her regular maintenance; this sort of unilateral divorce was permitted under the muslim personal law. she was initially granted maintenance by the verdict of a local court in 1980. khan, a lawyer himself, challenged this decision, taking it to the supreme court, saying that he had fulfilled all his obligations under islamic law. the supreme court ruled in her favour in 1985 under the "maintenance of wives, children and parents" provision (section 125) of the all india criminal code, which applied to all citizens irrespective of religion. it further recommended that a uniform civil code be set up. besides her case, two other muslim women had previously received maintenance under the criminal code in 1979 and 1980.
uniform civil code
thus, a lesser version of this bill was passed by the parliament in 1956, in the form of four separate acts, the hindu marriage act, succession act, minority and guardianship act and adoptions and maintenance act. it was decided to add the implementation of a uniform civil code in article 44 of the directive principles of the constitution specifying, "the state shall endeavour to secure for citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of india." this was opposed by women members like rajkumari amrit kaur and hansa mehta. according to academic paula banerjee, this move was to make sure it would never be addressed. aparna mahanta writes, "failure of the indian state to provide a uniform civil code, consistent with its democratic secular and socialist declarations, further illustrates the modern state's accommodation of the traditional interests of a patriarchal society".
uniform civil code