 "Pushkar Dhami, Uttarakhand CM")
The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday tabled the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) of Uttarakhand 2024 Bill in the state Assembly.
The Bill prescribes penal action, including a jail term of three months, for couples who fail to record their live-in relationships with a government registrar within a month of starting to live together.
It also prohibits marriage of people who are already married, which effectively bans polyandry and polygamy.
The Bill has kept the state’s Scheduled Tribes (STs), which comprise 2.9 per cent of the population, outside the purview of the proposed law.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami tabled the Bill in the state Assembly on the second day of the four-day session, with the Opposition Congress demanding more time to discuss the proposed law.
According to a PTI report, the leader of the Opposition, Yashpal Arya, said the Bill had 392 Sections and ran into 172 pages. He said it would have been better if the Opposition members were given enough time to study it.
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Speaker Ritu Khanduri acceded to the Opposition’s demand for more time to discuss the Bill.
The Bill, which could become a template for other BJP-ruled states working on drafts of their respective UCCs, such as Gujarat and Assam, proposes gender-equal personal laws.
These include a common law for marriage, divorce, land and property as well as inheritance for all citizens, irrespective of religion.
The tribals of the state have been kept out of the proposed law. Currently, only Goa has a common civil law. According to the Bill, marriages can be solemnised through separate rituals followed by different communities. It bars marriage of those already married, that is, where “neither party has a spouse living at the time of the marriage”, which effectively prohibits polygamy and polyandry.
The Bill applies to Uttarakhand and people from the state who live outside.
It mandates registration of all marriages if both or one of the spouses hails from the state, and these registers are to be open to public inspection.
The Bill makes it obligatory for partners in a live-in relationship within the state, whether they are residents of Uttarakhand or not, to furnish a statement of their relationship to the registrar within whose jurisdiction they are living.
The registrar will then conduct a “summary inquiry” to see whether the relationship falls under any of the prohibited categories, where at least one of the persons is a minor, for example. Or, “where at least one of the persons is married or already in a live-in relationship”.
Even those residents living outside the state and in live-in relationships “may” inform the registrar.
The Bill requires registrars to inform the local police of the registration of all live-in relationships in their jurisdiction. If either of the partners is under 21, the registrar will inform their parents or guardians.
On live-in partners, the Bill bans those below 18 from entering such relationships.
Failure to report within a month could mean imprisonment of up to three months or a fine of Rs 10,000 or both.
The Bill provides harsher penalties if they submit false information to the registrar or fail to register even after receiving a notice to furnish details.
The Bill states that either or both partners seeking to end a live-in relationship could furnish a statement of termination to the registrar.
The Bill says that a woman deserted by her live-in partner will be entitled to claim maintenance from him and could approach the courts.
It states that any child born of a live-in relationship shall be considered legitimate.
The Bill has kept the marriageable age for men and women at 21 and 18, respectively.
It retains the “custom” exception from the Hindu Marriage Act for married parties within the “degrees of prohibited relationships”.
Two people are described as within the “degrees of prohibited relationship” if they share a common ancestry or are the wife/husband of a common ancestor.
