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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Uniform civil code: Muslim board boycotts law panel questionnaire
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Uniform civil code: Muslim board boycotts law panel questionnaire

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board says it would boycott the stakeholder engagement questionnaire on the uniform civil code released by the Law Commission last week

The Muslim board in a press conference, said that it was opposed to the questionnaire on issues of reform in family laws or personal laws and had decided to boycott and reject it as a response. Photo: PTIPremium
The Muslim board in a press conference, said that it was opposed to the questionnaire on issues of reform in family laws or personal laws and had decided to boycott and reject it as a response. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Thursday declared that it would boycott the stakeholder engagement questionnaire on the uniform civil code released by the Law Commission last week.

The AIMPLB, in a press conference, said it is opposed to the questionnaire on issues of reform in family laws or personal laws and had decided to boycott and reject it as a response. “Uniform civil code is not good for this nation. There are so many cultures in this nation, they have to be respected," news agency ANI quoted the AIMPLB as saying.

Personal laws are rules dictated by an individual’s religion and govern matters like marriage, divorce and succession.

Kamal Faruqui, executive committee member of AIMPLB, said, “the intention of the Law Commission seems to be very clear and the kind of questionnaire they have prepared a fair discussion was not possible. We do not want any change in our personal laws. Personal laws of Muslims are non-negotiable. We do not accept (any change proposed or to be proposed)."

The debate around the common code across faiths gained momentum when the law ministry asked the Law Commission to prepare a detailed report on the uniform civil code, a concept under one of the directive principles of state policy, Article 44, in the Constitution. Accordingly, on 7 October, the Law Commission released a 16-point questionnaire, which proposed whether the directive under Article 44 needs further initiatives.

“Our party, in principle, has taken a decision to reply to the questionnaire of the Law Commission. Having said that, I am definitely of the opinion that questionnaire is completely loaded in favour of the uniform civil code. It should have been more objective," Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen told news channels.

Former law minister and Congress leader Veerappa Moily said it will be difficult to implement the code in India, where various communities and groups are governed by personal laws. “In a country of this nature, the implementation of a uniform civil code is next to impossible," he said, adding no one should take it as a Hindu versus Muslim issue.

Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh said the Law Commission is taking the opinion of all the stakeholders. “Now it is for the Muslim Personal Law Board to consider whether they want to be a part of the stakeholders or they want to be an individual identity," he added.

There have been small steps to reform personal laws across the board. The central government, in its affidavit before the Supreme Court on the triple talaq case, opposed this practice and said it is not an essential part of the religion. The triple talaq case refers to a clutch of petitions filed in the apex court seeking to declare talak-e-biddat (triple talaq, a practice where men can divorce their wives by saying “talaq" three times), nikah halala (remarrying a divorced husband without an intervening marriage with another man) and polygamy under Muslim personal law as illegal and unconstitutional.

PTI contributed to this report.

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Published: 13 Oct 2016, 03:32 PM IST
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