Plea in SC for Uniform Divorce

The Supreme Court has agreed to examine a plea to frame the uniform guidelines on divorce, maintenance and alimony for all religions with a caution.

About the petitioner

• The petitioner argued the divorce, maintenance and alimony laws in certain religions discriminated and marginalised women.
• The petitioner argued that, the anomalies that vary from one religion to another were violative of the right to equality under the Article 14 of the Constitution.
• This is also violative of the right against discrimination under Article 15 of the constitution on the basis of religion and gender and right to dignity.
• The petitioner has also called for the laws on divorce, maintenance and alimony should be gender- and religion-neutral.
• References to Uniform Civil Code has also been provided by the petitioner.

What are the concerns?

The Supreme Court (SC) bench has also maintained that framing the uniform guidelines could destruct the personal laws itself.

Uniform Civil Code (UCC)

The Uniform Civil Code which has been mentioned in part 4 and article 44 of the constitution. The code specifies that all the sections of the society shall be treated equally irrespective of their religion. This node means that a national civil code shall be applicable to all uniformly. The code covers areas such as marriage, maintenance, Inheritance, divorce, adoption and succession of property. The civil code is based on the notion that there is no connection between the religion and law in modern civilization.

Article 44

The article states that, the State shall secure a uniform civil code for the citizens all across the country.