UNIFORM CIVIL CODE AND PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN INDIA
Introduction:
Indian Constitution expressly stands for gender equality. Article 44 of Constitution of India provides for UCC for all citizens and says that the State shall endeavor to secure for all citizens a Uniform Civil Code. But this idea is still a dead letter. Women who make up half of India are still fighting for gender just code to enjoy equality and justice irrespective of their personal laws. That is why UCC is needed not only to provide uniformity of laws between all communities but also uniformity to provide equality between men and women1.
Concept of UCC:
The voice for implementation of UCC has been raised recently
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UNIFORM which means same in similar condition, civil means citizens and CODE means Codified laws. This supersedes the right of Citizens to be governed by their own personal laws. The UCC is conceived as part of secularization of personal laws without interfering in religious beliefs2.
Need of UCC:
Uniform Civil Code is needed to promote Secularism which is the basic feature of constitution of India as was held by the Supreme Court in S. R. Bomai V. Union of India3. Implementation of UCC is needed to promote national integration and to reform Personal laws. It will also provide equal treatment to all specially to women. In 21st century where a Hindu wife or a Christian wife can charge her husband for bigamy if he remarry during her lifetime and also during the subsistence of their marriage then why a Muslim wife cannot?
Under Muslim law polygamy is permitted where a Muslim man have four wives but if we go through the Quran it says that a Muslim man can marry one, two, three or four but he has to give equal treatment to all of them and it is impossible for him to treat them all equally. So in other sense Quran also suggested for monogamy but polygamy is the practice among
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which are applicable to all citizens irrespective of their culture or religion, but when it comes to the personal matters like marriage, divorce, inheritance, maintenance, adoption etc.; the communities are governed by Personal Laws. And in Personal Laws we can notice the prevalence of discrimination against women in different major communities in India.
Community specific personal Laws in Contravention of Constitutional provisions and other Uniform Codes:
One of the most important reason because of which the Civil Rights are demanding the application of Uniform Civil Code to ascertain the equal right to women, all major religious communities in India follow practices which are against the right of women and don’t allow their socio-economic progress. For example, according to section 6 Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 when the question arises as to the Guardianship of mother she cannot be natural guardian during lifetime of husband which is violation of article 14 and 15 of India Constitution.
In relation to Muslims usages are very rigid; there was practice of triple talaq where the Muslim husband had irresistible power to take divorce, even without assigning the reason which is
He believed that there should not be a Caste System because of one’s birth. Gandhi specifically opposed the untouchable class because of the lack of respect and humanity these people received. Gandhi once described his thoughts about untouchables, “God never made man that he may consider another man as an untouchable” (Document 4). Gandhi believed that God never made one man better than the other, he made them equal. Therefore, God did not create the idea of the Caste System, man did. The great Indian figure wanted nothing more than the untouchables (“Children of God” according to Gandhi) to receive better treatment (Wadley 202). Mohandas Gandhi also expressed once again how he felt about the untouchables, “I would far rather that Hinduism died than untouchability lived” (Document 4). In other words, Gandhi would rather have his own people (Hindus) die than the untouchable class carry on. This shows the amount of hatred that Gandhi had for the untouchable separation from society. Mohandas Gandhi also fought for the equality of women. In a document called “Gandhi and the Status of Women”, Gandhi expresses how he sees women in the Indian society, “Intellectually, mentally, and spiritually, women is equivalent to a male and she can participate in every activity” (Document 11). He believed that women were just as capable for crucial jobs as men were. Later on, Gandhi’s beliefs came to a reality. “The 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution empowered rural women in 1993” (Document 12). Suddenly, women’s participation in village and district councils became crucial to the Indian government. This opened up new doors for the women and Gandhi was able to prove the men who thought otherwise of the capability that these women had. Mohandas Gandhi believed that all man was equal, and he was able to show that while still unifying India. Mohandas Gandhi was also
Women's rights is the fight for women to have equal rights to men. In India women have a secondary status within the household and workplace. This will affect a women's health, financial status, education, and political involvement. Women are normally married young, quickly become mothers, and are then burdened by this and also financial responsibilities. Unfortunately to this present day we are still fighting for women’s rights.
Hossain, Kamrul. "In search of equality: marriage related laws for Muslim women in Bangladesh." Journal of International Women's Studies 5.1 (2003): 96+. Global Issues In Context
Within the earliest of civilizations of India, pre-pubescent girls were offered to men as wives, which ultimately lead to the destruction of women’s domestic independence. As said in Document 1, “because girls married before they could finish their education, they were not qualified to perform ritual sacrifices. Furthermore, wives’ legal rights eroded.” Likewise, Indian women became politically subordinate to men. However, by modern standards, women’s social
...the hardest goals to accomplish, as cultural beliefs and values are often set in stone and cannot be changed instantaneously. Changing rigid gender stereotypes could take many years, so it is imperative that solutions be implemented over the long-term. Women should continue to be educated, and people should work towards a greater share in household responsibilities among families (24). A more holistic approach is needed, and social support for rural women should also be enhanced (24). Furthermore, it is essential that responses to the matter are culturally sensitive; for instance, divorce is often not a viable option for many women in India who fear being stigmatized by their communities. Overall, researchers should continue to conduct further studies in order to understand the roots of family violence in India, and work towards eradicating the issue altogether.
There are many instances of gender inequality in the dominant religion of Hinduism (Srivastava, 2008). Husbands treat their wives like property, and that is pretty much the root of the issue. A major factor of this subject is the concept of dowry. This concept should be well known before the issue is further dissected. Dowry is an ancient tradition where the husband gains the riches of the wife immediately after they are married (Bedi, 2012). What tends to happen is that the woman’s dowry does not usually satisfy the man, and this leads to devastating violence. Women are then killed in various torturous ways, such as live burning. This also leads to another major element of the problem: female infanticide. This is the unlawful killing of baby girls (BBC, 2014). Women do not want to disappoint their husbands by having a daughter, so they get rid of their unborn or newborn babies. Also, daughters cause a financial burden to the family, so families would want to dispose of them (BBC, 2014). Also, men are far more educated than women in India, and that leads to more problems. Yes, awfully tragic, bu...
Unfortunately, if the government does not take more action, it is possible that a population collapse may occur. With a fewer percentage of females, men will begin competing for women leading to acts of violence and those left without brides may be driven to suicidal tendencies. Given time, newer technologies will be made that will reveal more and more detailed information about the fetus that could in fact just be, that infants greatest demise. Because of the future advancements in technology to come, it is a moral obligation to put an end to the injustices of the silenced genocide of females in India. In order to do so, the government must implement laws that not only respect traditional values of the Indians, but also solve their economic and financial problems to end bias towards boys.
The ideology of gender equality is present in Hinduism, but is not followed within the religious community or in the Indian society. Despite the single chromosome difference between genders, this biological variation has multifaceted religious, social, and economic implications. The question remains how religions such as Hinduism or Christianity can emphasize spiritual equality, yet condone, perpetuate, and justify the practice of gender inequality especially in the work force. This issue of patriarchy affects woman not only in India, but also throughout the world including the United States. In order to evoke a change within society, it is important to understand the mechanisms and justifications for spiritual equality without societal equality and how Hinduism might be able to bring India closer social equality.
Legal Pluralism is the presence of various legal systems within a single country or a geographical area. Legal Pluralism is omnipresent although it is generally assumed to exist in countries only with a colonial past. This is because in most countries with a colonial past, colonial laws co-exist alongside indigenous laws. However, if we look at the expansive definition of legal pluralism, it can be said that every society or country if legally plural. The modern definition of legal pluralism also deals with the issues of relation between state and non-state legal orders. It shows the dichotomy that exists between customary legal norms and state law. The judiciary of India has upheld this principle of pluralism in many cases by showing that
Everyone know that Law is a system of rules which are developed in community with a aim to govern a society maintaining, justice, protect individuals and property. There are a lot of countries and they have own set of rules and norms including itself constitutional, criminal, contract, trust, international, tort, administrative and property. During the long time law improving and developing a lot and become more invulnerable and fair. Therefore, in a modern society and most of countries law has become similar with similar legal system. Nowadays there are several general types of legal system in the world and two main most popular of them, which had mostly spread through the world. They
3. In other countries, a reason why people engage in polygamous relationships involve the increase of children for labor. Another indicator is dealing with the overpopulation of women and maintaining control over them. It is also mainly in societies that consist of men with intense sexual desires and “lengthy post-partum sexual taboos” (Religious Tolerance, 2001).
The criminal justice system could be a set of legal and social establishments for imposing the legal code in accordance with an outlined set of procedural rules and limitations. within the us, there area unit separate federal, state, and military criminal justice systems; every state has separate systems for adults and juveniles.
Polygamy in Islam serves a strictly religious purpose. Polygamy was a way of life until the Quran was revealed 1400 years ago. When the earth was young and under-populated, polygamy was one way of populating it and bringing in the human beings needed to carry out God's plan. By the time the Quran was revealed, the world had been sufficiently populated, and the Quran put down the first limitations against polygamy. Polygamy has become an established part of traditional Islamic law and practice; Muslims are accustomed to accepting that a man's right to more than one wife is firmly established in the Qur'an and the Hadith. Polygamy (specifically polygyny, the marriage of one man to many women) is thus considered unquestionably moral, even though it is obviously unfair; only men are allowed the privilege of it. However, a close study of the Qur'an can enable one to see that the Islamic ideal of marriage is monogamous, with only husband-wife pairs. In fact, the Qur'anic stance on polygamy is the same as its stance on slavery; both are objectionable on ethical grounds, but tolerated due to the particular circumstances of Muhammad's community.
...s not exist. This is a complicated situation and it requires various actions. India is in a transitional phase, and there are many power struggles happening at the same time. Women are gaining influence in the country, men do not always respond well to that. High castes have lost the support of the government when it comes to their inherent social status. Muslims and Hindus have been fighting over control for decades, and the traditional values that were held for so long are at odds with the modern ways. Each of these contribute to the stabilization of violence against women, and solving this problem will not be a simple as we may like. It is easy to accuse Hindu-Indian culture of being compliant in the crimes committed against its women, but we simply cannot ignore all the other factors that play a role. Complex situations call for complex solutions, nothing less.
In today’s globalized world, women’s studies is emerging as a fast growing discipline which is not restricted any more to the academia but is significantly capturing the attention of the civil society. The way civil society responded to “Nirbhaya” gang-rape case of December, 2012 in Delhi; the way people came on the streets in protest against this horrific and barbarous crime committed against a 23 year old woman; this people’s movement has undoubtedly engineered the emergence of a new consciousness among us about the need for a realization of women’s honour and dignity in the society. There have been serious debates on the issue of whether more stringent laws (in the line of Shari’a law) be implemented in our Indian society so that such heinous crimes against women can be prevented. However, the aforesaid incident is only one among many hundred other such crimes happening everyday in almost every corner of the globe. Many such incidents of crime are either suppressed or do not come to limelight. The following analysis is a humble attempt to deal with the status of women (especially in Islam) in a globalized world.