SC: UCC not linked to religion, its enactment constitutional ambition

New Delhi: Nearly a decade after declaring instant divorce through triple talaq unconstitutional and void, Supreme Court Thursday agreed to examine the validity of blatant discrimination of Muslim women in property inheritance under the 90-year-old Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi sought responses from the law and minority affairs ministries on a PIL by Lucknow-based Paulomi Pavini Shukla, who through advocate Prashant Bhushan, said the right of equal inheritance cannot be denied to 10 million Muslim women, both in intestate and testamentary succession.

"The right to inherit properties is not an essential religious practice and is a civil right, which cannot discriminate between Muslim men and women." He said he personally favoured enactment of UCC as Muslim men get the lion's share of properties in inheritance. Muslim women cannot even write a 'will' to give their self-acquired properties as per their wishes. SC said, "UCC has nothing to do with religion, and its enactment is a constitutional ambition. The Special Marriage Act and Juvenile Justice Act are steps towards UCC. But these are primarily legislative exercises," Bhusan said.

Last year, SC had entertained a PIL by a Muslim woman, Sufiya P M, who is also the general secretary of an organisation 'Ex-Muslims of Kerala', seeking to be governed by the Indian Succession Act to escape the women-discriminatory Sharia law.

In her PIL, Shukla said enactment of UCC by Uttarakhand has created another dichotomy for Muslim women, as those residing in the hill state would be entitled to an equal share in their parents' properties, but the rest in other states would not be entitled to this treatment. SC said Shukla's stand would get increased legitimacy if some of the women who suffered such unequal treatment joined as parties to the PIL.




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