AIMPLB Calls Law Commission's Proposal to Seek Fresh Views on UCC 'Politically Motivated'

New Delhi: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has opposed the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in its representation to the Law Commission and called the exercise “politically motivated” to divide the country on religious lines.

While the 21st Law Commission in 2018 had said that a UCC is “neither desirable nor necessary at this stage”, the 22nd Law Commission last month sought fresh inputs on the contentious issue.

The Commission in its notice had said: “Since more than three years have been lapsed from the date of issuance of the said Consultation Paper(21st Law Commission report), bearing in mind the relevance and importance of the subject and also the various Court orders on the subject, the 22nd Law Commission of India considered it expedient to deliberate afresh over the subject.”

The 74-page AIMPLB representation, accessed by The Wire, has criticised the need to call for fresh views on the matter, terming the exercise “politically motivated”.

“The whole exercise of revisiting / revising the issue of UCC is politically motivated and aims at polarising, dividing the citizenry on religious grounds to achieve political mileage for the party in power,” it said.

Also read: BJP Equates UCC With Gender Justice. But Can It End Discrimination In-Built in Personal Laws?

It has also questioned the manner in which views have been sought by the Law Commission.

“The terms for the suggestions to be invited are missing. It appears that such a large issue has been floated in the public domain to seek a referendum as to whether the reaction of the general public also reaches the Commission in either equally vague terms or in a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

“We are making this submission for multiple reasons because this issue being a purely legal issue has also been fodder for politics and consumption of media-driven propaganda.”

It said that the previous Law Commission had already sought inputs and examined personal laws.

Raising questions on the present Commission’s intentions, it said that it is “surprising to see the successive commission again seeking public opinion without there being any blueprint as to what the Commission intends to do”.

Speaking to The Wire, AIMPLB member Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahli said that the board had already given its representation to the previous Law Commission about the need to protect personal laws, which was upheld and accepted by the panel then.

“Five years later, why has the need arisen again to examine this issue afresh?” he asked.

The representation also refers to the apprehensions within the Muslim community that the present exercise is to put Muslim personal law in peril.

“In the present atmosphere, the Muslims in India live in a constant siege of dreaded violence and discrimination and have been targeted by hate speeches and the civil society is polarised on communal lines.”

“Under this atmosphere, to start a debate/discussion putting the Muslim Personal Law into focus is perceived as an attack on their identity,” it added.

The Law Commission notice last month sought inputs within 30 days ending on July 14.

Calling the period of a month “unreasonably short”, the AIMPLB urged the Law Commission to drop the exercise.

“It is therefore requested that you may kindly drop this suo moto drill of keeping the pot boiling against the Muslims which is against the Republican values enshrined in our Constitution."

Also read: A Uniform Civil Code Alone Won't Ensure Marginalised Women Suddenly Have More Rights

The AIMPLB representation has also called against uniformity in personal laws and said that to maintain diversity the scheme in the Indian Constitution to consolidate the nation “is not, and cannot be, uniform”.

“Muslims in India will not be agreeable to lose this identity of which there is space within the constitutional framework of our country,” it said.

“National integrity, safety and security and fraternity is best preserved and maintained if we maintain the diversity of our country by permitting minorities and tribal communities to be governed by their own personal laws.”

Mahli said that the basic reasons for the AIMPLB’s opposition is that the Constitution itself allows every religion to practice and uphold their religious freedoms.

“We should be allowed to practice our personal laws and any attempt to do away with it is aimed at ending our religious freedom which even the Constitution does not permit.”

Mahli added that even general laws that are outside the ambit of personal laws are different in different parts of India.

“Even the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) has been amended. Caste based reservation laws vary from state to state. Even prevention of cow slaughter laws are different in different parts of India,” he said.

“So law is already different and varied and to try to enforce ‘one nation, one law’ will never be possible and more importantly what is the need?”

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