The Uniform Civil Code has been a part of the Indian constitutional, judicial and political spheres since the framers of the Constitution included it in the Directive Principles of State Policy list in 1948. The articles in this list, while not judiciable can be viewed as directions to future Governments of India on how to legislate laws that would ensure socioeconomic equality for all sections on India’s diverse citizenry.
In August 2017 the Supreme Court’s delivered its judgment in the Shayara Bano case and invalidated the practice of instantaneous divorce called “triple talaq”. This restarted the public discourse on the feasibility, complexities and the need for an UCC. Centre for Law and Policy Research, who tracked and reported on the Triple Talaq case in the Supreme Court Observer, now endeavors to provide the historical, judicial and political context and for this Directive Principle.
The first part of the 4-part podcast series examines the constitutional history of the UCC drawing from the Constituent Assembly Debates, which have been curated and annotated in CLPR’s CADindia website. The second part traces the judicial trajectory of the UCC by analyzing multiple landmark verdicts from the Supreme Court. The third part outlines the 3 phases when the political debates on this topic were at their most intense.
Be sure to subscribe to our Youtube channel to catch the 4th part of the series which will be published on National Law Day/Constitution Day (Nov 26th). In this episode we discuss whether Uniform Civil Code should be implemented in India, the pros and cons of the different approaches to implementing the UCC, and the challenges and benefits of undertaking such an effort.