Wednesday, 07 February 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Uniform law about according rights to citizens, not depriving them
On the day the Uniform Civil Code Bill was tabled in the Vidhan Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party State president Mahendra Bhatt stated that implementation of UCC in the State will enable women empowerment and ensure that children get their rights more effectively.
Welcoming the step, he said that there cannot be a better place than Uttarakhand for starting a good work like providing the right to uniformity of law. Bhatt said, “The UCC draft was prepared in about 22 months considering 2.33 lakh suggestions, holding 43 public interactions and more than six dozen marathon meetings. This bill is set to assume a legal form after getting the approval of the Vidhan Sabha and recommendation of the governor. The UCC will fulfill the dream of the makers of the constitution for women empowerment and the right to uniform laws. Those who were trying to create misunderstanding and create confusion must have realised that the UCC is not about words like Hindu-Muslim dispute and majority or minority. The introduction of this law in the State will provide the women and children of the State all those rights which they were deprived of during the past 75 years. The biggest aim of UCC is to ensure the rights of women and children,” the BJP State president said.
He further said that the UCC is related not to snatching the rights of people but to according them their rights. There will not be any changes made in the religious practices and marital traditions. This will prove to be a big step in the direction of social justice, he said while adding that the UCC is in accordance with provisions in the Indian Constitution.
Bhatt further said, “The UCC will be problematic for those who indulge in polygamy with the intention of meting out injustice to women or want to deprive them of their rights to property, compensation and other aspects. It will create problems for those who have a proclivity to dupe women through illegal marriage, live-in relationship and other means along with those who indulge in child marriage using religious right as an excuse. A large section of political leaders which has so far been conspiring to indulge in the politics of appeasement to maintain a vote bank will also be disappointed with UCC,” he added.
Commenting on the stance of the opposition on this development, the BJP State president said that it is unfortunate. “One can understand the opposition of Congress leaders sitting in Delhi but it is unfortunate that the State’s Congress leaders are opposing this attempt which will raise the prestige of Uttarakhand. One cannot expect justice from the party whose government brought a law to deprive a triple Talaq victim of Rs 179.25 allowance granted by the court and which can ignore what the courts have said in favour of a uniform civil code. In order to appease a section of society, they continued discrimination against the general public of the nation. They continued to give silent approval to the exploitation of women and children on aspects like divorce and rights in the absence of a uniform law,” Bhatt said.
