Observing that it is for Parliament to bring a law for uniform civil code, the SC on Monday refused to entertain a public interest petition filed by a BJP leader seeking direction to Parliament to ena
Observing that it is for Parliament to bring a law for uniform civil code, the SC on Monday refused to entertain a public interest petition filed by a BJP leader seeking direction to Parliament to enact a uniform civil code to bring all religious and personal laws under one legislation.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices A.K. Sikri and R. Banumathi told senior counsel Gopal Subramanium, who appeared for the petitioner-advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, that it is for Parliament to take a call on the issue and it was not in the realm of the Supreme Court to issue a direction. The counsel submitted that uniform civil code will put an end to alleged discrimination being faced by Muslim women in divorce laws. Chief Justice Thakur told Mr Subramaniam, “The goal of the Constitution for a uniform civil code is one thing, asking the top court in a PIL to issue a mandamus to the Parliament to enact the common code is another. We cannot ask them (Parliament) to bring the uniform civil code.”
The CJI pointed out that 21 years ago the top court had declined to go into the issue of civil common code, and said the position has not changed. The CJI told the counsel, “Tell us first, has anybody come from the community you are alleging discrimination If an aggrieved Muslim had come, we would have still considered her case... but we cannot examine this on the basis of a PIL.”
The petitioner said UCC is the sign of modern progressive nation, which will show that the nation has moved away from religion, race, caste and sex discrimination. While our economic growth has been the highest in the world, our social growth has not happened at all. What we have right now in India is selective secularism, which means that in some areas, we are secular and in others, we are not. A UCC means that all citizens of India have to follow the same civil laws whether they are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, or Sikhs. A UCC does not mean it will limit the freedom of people to follow their religion, it just means that every person shall be treated equally. That is real secularism.
The court asked the counsel to withdraw this petition and said that if such petitions were filed without regard to the law, the court will come down very heavily and impose costs.
Counsel drew the court’s attention to a recent order passed by another bench of Justices Anil R. Dave and Adarsh Kumar Goel, directing a suo moto PIL be filed in the Supreme Court to have a re-look at the issue of “gender discrimination” suffered by Muslim women in the country.
