The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed the landmark Uniform Civil Code Uttarakhand 2024 Bill, which was introduced by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami yesterday.
After passing the UCC Bill in the Assembly, Uttarakhand has become the first state in the country after independence to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), “Terming the passing of UCC historic, CM Dhami said, This continuous stream of equality and uniformity in the form of UCC emanating from Devbhoomi Uttarakhand, the origin place of Mother Ganga and Yamuna, will show the path to the entire country. This bill also reflects our government’s commitment towards respecting and protecting mother power.”
The Bill was introduced in the House by CM Dhami on Tuesday and after two days of discussion, it was passed by the Assembly.
The Bill has provisions to pronounce polygamy, ‘halala’ and unregistered live-in relationships as illegal and punishable acts.
The Uniform Civil Code, 2024 reads, “A bill to govern and regulate the laws relating to marriage and divorce, succession, live-in relations and the matters related thereto.”
The Bill categorically states that a marriage may be solemnized between a man and a woman only if “neither party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage”.
With regard to halala, it says, “The right to remarry under sub-section (1) includes the right to remarry the divorced spouse without any condition, such as marrying a third person before such.” Nikah halala is a practice in Islam in which a woman, after being divorced by triple talaq, marries another man, consummates the marriage, and gets divorced again in order to be able to remarry her former husband.
The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill also advocates for making live-in relations legal and punishable on violation of norms. It says submitting statements by partners to a live-in relation under the given format will be mandatory once the bill is enacted.
(With Agency Inputs)