Uttarakhand is set to become the first state in India to ban Halala and Iddat and legalise live-in relationship and provide woman rights on par with men irrespective of their religion.
These, along with several other epochal recommendations, are integral part of the draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC) presented to the Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami by the expert committee constituted for the purpose in Dehradun on Friday.
Although the committee members did not disclose the content of the draft, those in the thick of its workings informed that declaration of live-in relationship would be mandatory in future. Self-declaration by the couples in live-in relation will have a statutory format.
Apart from this, registration of marriages will be compulsory under the UCC. Benefits of government schemes and programmes can be availed of only through registration of marriage. The process of the registration will be simplified with the registration facility to be made available at village levels.
The draft UCC equates property inheritance rights for girls and women of all faiths and castes on par with men. It also advocates complete ban on polygamy, halala and iddat in the Muslim community.
The draft provides for equal rights to both husband and wife in the matter of divorce. It says the causes and methods of divorce allowed for the husband will also be applicable to the wife. This will benefit mainly Muslim women as under the personal laws, husband and wife can take divorce on different grounds.
It also advocates sharing of compensation paid to the wife on the death of an employed man with the parents as well. If a widow remarries, parents of the deceased husband will still have a share in the compensation received for their maintenance.
The committee recommended equal rights for men and women on adoption of a child as well. Here, Muslim women would also have adoption right. However, in case of a dispute over their custody, minor children will go to the grandparents.
The five-member expert panel was constituted by the Pushkar Singh Dhami Government in May 2022 to draft the UCC under the leadership of retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai. Former chief justice of Sikkim High Court Pramod Kohli, former chief secretary of Uttarakhand Shatrughan Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Doon University Surekha Dangwal and social worker Manu Gaur are the other members of in the committee.
The panel held 43 public dialogues and consultation programmes to prepare almost a 800-page draft in nearly 19 months. It received around 2.33 lakh suggestions from the public which is equal to nearly 10 per cent of the families in the state. As many as 72 meetings of the committee were held to interact with about 10,000 people and study all the suggestions received.
Speaking on the occasion, CM Dhami thanked the committee members and hoped the draft would be a boon for Uttarakhand and prove a milestone for the nation.
The chief minister assured that his government would study and examine the report and prepare a final UCC draft Bill as soon as possible. The Bill will be tabled in the assembly in the special session of the upcoming Legislative Assembly on February 5. Prior to this, the Dhami cabinet will formally clear the UCC plan in a meeting on Saturday.