Out of 193 member states of the United Nations only eight countries have a Uniform Civil Code – the United States, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt and Ireland. All these countries have one set of personal laws for all religions and there are no separate laws for any particular religion or community. Additionally, some countries like France, Germany, and Japan have aspects of uniformity in their civil codes that apply to all citizens, regardless of their religion or beliefs. In India before the recent legislation in Uttrakhand, only Goa had a Uniform Civil Code which was implemented by the Portuguese in 1867 and continued after 1961.

Mentioned in the Constitution of India as Article 44 of the Directive Principles of State Policy, framers of the Constitution had proposed that the adoption of Uniform Civil Code would replace personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religious community with a common set governing every citizen. The subject is not new it has been hotly debated in Parliament with respect to the Shah Bano case in 1985 at which time the Supreme Court regretted that Article 44 of the Constitution of India in relation to bringing of Uniform Civil Code in India remained a dead letter and held that a common civil code would help the cause of national integration by removing disparate loyalties to laws which have conflicting ideologies.

Here I would also like to add that in July 2019, the Parliament of India abolished the practice of “Triple Talaq” and made it a punishable act. However, much more needs to be done for removal of disparities within personal laws of various religious communities concerning women’s rights. Before proceeding it is important to understand how different religions and their personal laws might be impacted by the formulation and implementation of a Uniform Civil Code: i) Hinduism: Existing laws like the Hindu Marriage Act (1955) and the Hindu Succession Act (1956) would need amendments; Uniform Civil Code would not allow exceptions based on customary practices. ii) Islam: the Muslim Personal (Shariat) Application........

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