False propaganda being spread against UCC: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan
The Governor of Kerala Arif Mohammed Khan urged people to dispel "misconceptions" about UCC and fight "false propaganda" being spread against it.
FollowThiruvananthapuram: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Friday said that the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) does not pose a threat to anyone in the country and asked the citizens to remove misconceptions about it and fight against the false propaganda. He was giving a lecture on the topic "Uniform Civil Code: Why and How?
The UCC seeks to replace the personal laws that are based on the scriptures and traditions of many religious communities with a set of laws that apply to all citizens of the nation. According to Khan, the UCC will be the best thing to occur during the "Amrit Kaal," or the 75–100 years following India's freedom.
The Governor of Kerala urged people to dispel "misconceptions" about UCC and fight "false propaganda" being spread against it.
By giving an example of 'instant triple talaq', Khan said that this decision faced rough weather initially. However, he asserted that instances of triple talaq have decreased by 55% since the triple talaq bill's passage.
Khan said UCC should be implemented in the country, not merely because “it is part of the directive principles, but because the existing legal arrangement violates both the fundamental right of equality before law and equal protection of laws”.
“Today every person who goes to court to seek justice in matters pertaining to personal laws receives justice on the basis of his/her religious faith. Two persons similarly circumstanced will not receive similar justice because they belong to different faith traditions,” he said.
It is "vicious propaganda," according to Khan, to encourage people to believe that UCC entails bringing about uniformity of customs, rites, and practises, and that UCC will destroy the diverse fabric of Indian society.
“This is far from the truth. The UCC is only about bringing uniformity of justice,” he said.
Khan said that UCC is a civil law.
According to him, civil laws are not automatically enforced by courts; rather, they only do so when a party that is impacted by them seeks redress for an alleged violation does so.
Khan claimed that Muslim personal law is, at best, comparable to sectarian laws that vastly diverge from one another.
“That explains why Muslim Ulemas are not able to codify the Muslim Law and the Shariat Application Act 1937 is merely a declaratory law that such and such matters shall be decided in accordance with the provisions of Muslim Law,” he said.
