The Legislative Council in the state of Uttarakhand in northern India has passed a uniform civil law in the state controlled by the ruling party, the “Bharatiya Janata Party,” which includes regulations governing marriage, divorce, land ownership, inheritance, and other societal and family laws.
The law will not apply to tribal members in the state, the majority of whom are Hindus governed by their own personal laws, while other specified categories of state residents are exempt as mentioned in the constitution, with only the Muslims in the state being bound by it.
Hindus who are not tribal members follow civil law as they do not have specific personal laws, unlike Muslims who have clear and defined Sharia. For example, the new law prohibits polygamy and sets the minimum marriage age at 21 for men and 18 for women.
The law was enacted in response to the directives of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been advocating for a uniform civil law for years to deprive Muslims of operating under Islamic Sharia law regarding personal matters.
Muslims in India have been abiding by Islamic personal law since the English colonial era, continuing to adhere to Islamic personal law following the fall of the Mughal state in 1857 to the English. The English granted this right through the enactment of the “Sharia Law” in 1937, which is still in effect in India.
Successive Indian governments have maintained that Islamic personal law will not be tampered with unless requested by Muslims.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power, Hindu extremists have begun promoting the idea that Muslims’ adherence to Islamic Sharia in their personal matters hinders their integration into Indian society, thus necessitating its abolition and the imposition of a uniform civil law on the country.
However, the reality is that the uniform civil law, even if issued, will only be enforced on Muslims. The existing civil law in India, to which Hindus adhere, will remain unchanged for Hindus. Muslims alone will be compelled to abide by the civil law, thereby abandoning Sharia in their personal affairs.
There are hundreds (between 250 and 300 according to former Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad) of social groups with their own specific civil laws, including Hindu, Christian, Sikh, tribal, and mountain-dwellers. It is certain that the government will find excuses to exempt these groups from the uniform civil law, leaving only Muslims to be subjected to it.
