23 July 2003
UNIFORM CIVIL CODE: BJP GLADDENED
BY APEX COURT'S OBSERVATION
From Jal Khambata
NEW
DELHI: The Bhartiya Janata Party was gladdened by the Supreme Court
once again stressing an urgency to promote national integration by
enacting a uniform civil code for all Indian citizens as envisaged
under the directive principles of the Constitution.
In
an immediate reaction, party spokesman Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra on
Wednesday said the BJP had always campaigned for the common civil
code and it would raise it at the next meeting of the ruling National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) to persuade other partners to see the
rationale in the light of the Supreme Court's observation.
"Common
civil code does not mean the Hindu Civil Code. If there can be a
common criminal code, why not also have a common civil code,"
Malhotra said at the party's daily press briefing while hoping that
the Congress would see the wisdom in no longer opposing the civil
code as infringing upon some religions.
The common civil code
was one of the three controversial issues that the BJP had put on the
back-burner to enable it to form the NDA with other secular parties,
other two issues being the Ram Temple at Ayodhya and abolition of
Article 370 giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
It is
not for the first time that the Supreme Court has stressed the need
of having a common civil code. Earlier also it had not only called
for it but wanted it enacted within one year.
Malhotra wanted
all political parties, including Congress and the NDA allies, to
accept the Supreme Court's sane advice in a judgment delivered on
Wednesday that "there is no necessary connection between
religious and personal law in a civilised society" and in fact
"a common civil code will promote national
integration."
Congress spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi
said his party was not against "samajik parivartan (social
changes)" but it always advocated such changes to come from
within the society and not imposed by enactment of the law. As
regards the Supreme Court's observations, he said the party would
react only after studying the full judgment.
In its judgment
delivered on Monday but reported only on Wednesday, the Supreme Court
observed: "It is a matter of regret that Article 44 of the
Constitution has not been given effect to. Parliament is still to
step in for framing a common civil code in the country. A common
civil code will help the cause of national integration by removing
the contradictions based on ideologies."
"There is
no necessary connection between religious and personal law in a
civilised society." the three-judge Bench headed by Chief
Justice V N Khare affirmed while striking down as unconstitutional
Section 118 of the Indian Succession Act saying it discriminated
against Christians by imposing restrictions on their donation by will
property for religious and charitable purpose.
The other two
Judges of the Bench, Justice S B Sinha and Justice AR Lakshmanan, in
their separate judgements, concurred with the Chief Justice's
judgement striking down the section and indicating the desirability
of a common civil code.
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