Kerala Governor Exclusive: ‘Has Uniform Civil Code threatened Muslims in other nations? NO’

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, in an exclusive interview to Asianet News on Monday dwelled upon varied issues right from the ongoing hijab controversy to the concerns regarding Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Stressing that the purpose of Uniform Civil Code is not to arbitrate anyone’s identity, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan said, “UCC cannot become an instrument through which we can create unity. How does that happen? We have a uniform criminal law; we have uniform commercial laws. We have every law that are common. If you come to civil code, we have Indian civil code common. 

“Only a portion of it that deals with marriage, succession, inheritance, divorce, things like that are separate laws,” the Kerala Governor told Asianet.

Further explaining, he said that “Only part of the civil code, the purpose of Uniform Civil Code is not to deal with customs or rituals of any community. They are not going to be regulated. The purpose is to create uniform or similar rights and obligations which arise from marriage.”

Questioning those who are against UCC, Khan said, “Today, there is no Uniform Civil Code! I ask you to conduct a survey, how many Muslim husbands pay ‘meher’ to their wives? 

Most of the cases of marital disputes among the Muslims happen only after divorce. The question of meher is disputed and the matter goes to the court. Why? Because if you go by the true spirit of religion then meher must be paid before consummation of marriage. And it’s not that people do not know about it,” the Governor said.