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Polity & Governance
Mahesh

07/02/24 07:03 AM IST

Uttarakhand civil code: The key changes for Hindus and Muslims in marriage, inheritance

In News
  • The Uttarakhand government tabled the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) 2024 Bill in the Assembly recently. 
  • It makes important changes in areas such as marriage, divorce, and succession.
Changes for Muslims
  • The proposed UCC brings the minimum age of marriage to 18 and 21 for Muslim women and men, in line with the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
  • On succession, the nature of testamentary succession (through a will) and intestate succession (in the absence of a will) for Muslims will change drastically.
  • Currently, Muslims may bequeath up to one-third of their property to anyone of their choosing through a will.
  • The remaining property, or the entire property when there is no will, must then be divided in the manner provided in the Quran and the Hadith. This would ensure that the legal heirs are not entirely dispossessed.
  • However, under the proposed UCC, in situations where the deceased person does leave a will behind, there is no restriction on how much of their property they can bequeath, or to whom.
  • In cases of intestate succession, the property will pass on to Class-1 heirs, who include the children, the widow and parents among a long list of others.
  • In the absence of Class-1 heirs, the property will pass on to Class-2 heirs, who include siblings, nieces, nephews and grandparents, among others. If no such heir exists, anyone most closely related to the deceased person may receive the property.
  • The practices of bigamy or polygamy are outlawed in the UCC Bill. This is done by placing a condition for marriage under Section 4 of the Bill that neither party can have a living spouse at the time of their marriage.
  • The proposed Code also criminalises certain Muslim marriage practices such as Iddat and Nikah Halala, without explicitly naming them.
  • Section 30 deals with the right of a person to remarry following a divorce.
  • UCC provides that the right can be exercised without any other condition, such as marrying a third person before such marriage.
  • This is a reference to the practice of halala under Muslim personal law. Section 32 then provides the punishment for anyone who “compels, abets or induces” someone to meet such conditions.
  • Anyone convicted under Section 32 can be punished with imprisonment up to three years and also be liable to fine of Rs 1 lakh.
Changes for Hindus
  • The UCC takes away the distinction under Hindu law between ancestral and self-acquired property. Coparcenary rights under the Hindu Succession Act do not find mention in the UCC Bill.
  • In a joint Hindu family governed by the Mitakshara school of law, a son/daughter; grandson/granddaughter; great-grandson/great-granddaughter are deemed joint owners of the property from the time of their birth. Each of them is a coparcener.
  • Practically, what this means is that the father cannot sell or will away the joint family property on his own accord if his descendants are alive. The ancestral property is held jointly across four generations. However, in the case of self-acquired property, the father is free to dispose of it.
  • The other key change is the elevation of both parents — mother and father — as Class I heirs in case of intestate succession (when a person dies without making a will).
  • Now, Class I heirs would include the children, widow, and both the father and the mother.
Source- Indian Express

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