Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad (ABAP) handed over its recommendation on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to Justice (Retd.) Ritu Raj Awasthi, Chairperson of the Law Commission of India.

As per its recommendations, tribals and the LGBTQ community should be kept out of the preview of the UCC for the time being. ABAP, one of India's largest lawyers' organisations said that it reached out to every nook and corner of the society, across all religions before finalizing their recommendations.

A few other notable suggestions in the recommendation are that monogamous marriages should be the norm and the minimum age of marriage for girls should be 18 years and for boys 21 years. Further, it was emphasised that marriage registration should be mandatory although marriage could be performed as per the religious practices of each community. Additionally, ABAP has suggested uniform laws for divorce, inheritance, succession and maintenance for all women irrespective of religious laws.

Earlier, this month, the All India Lawyers Union (AILU) had submitted its proposal to the Law Commission stating that the UCC is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. "The Law Commission shall focus on strengthening of secular laws for giving complete gender justice based on equality and equal rights for men and women and reform of family law by taking up follow up action based on Consultation Paper on Reforms of Family Law submitted by the 21st Law Commission and shall not embark upon the exercise of reopening the issue of Uniform Civil Code at this stage", said AILU.

In its suggestions, the ABAP has also proposed that parents of martyred soldiers should receive 1/3rd of the compensation from the government while the children and widows of the martyred soldiers should receive 2/3rd of the compensation.

As per a press release, ABAP has recommended that “Only Monogamous marriage should be allowed for all…Minimum age of marriage to be 18 for girls and 21 for boys…Registration of marriage should be made compulsory… Marriages should be performed as per one's own religious customs and practices…There should be uniform grounds of divorce for all women…Equal rights of adoption…Equal rights of Inheritance and Succession to all women which are available to the men, irrespective of religion…Equal Maintenance Rights to all women…Providing 1/3rd of the compensation received from the government to the parents of the martyred soldiers while keeping 2/3rd for the widow and children”.

A delegation of ABAP consisting of its Vice President Seema Singh, Senior Advocate M.B Nargund, North-Zone Sangathan Mantri Shreehari Borikar and Advocates Archana Pathak Dave, Jivesh Tiwari and Manish met the Chairperson of the Law Commission to hand over the recommendations.

As per the press release, the delegation was informed that more than 50 lakhs recommendation from across the country has been received by the Commission and therefore, the deadline to submit suggestions has been extended till July 28, 2023, in view of the overwhelming response.

Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi

Jayanti Pahwa