Dead Letters? The Uniform Civil Code through the Eyes of the Indian Women's Movement and the Indian Supreme Court

Tanja Herklotz

doi:10.5771/0506-7286-2016-2-148

Contents
- Chapter Expand | CollapseAuthorsPage
- 123–124 Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis 123–124
- 125–215 Abhandlungen / Articles 125–215
  - 125–147 Still Asking for the Moon? Opening Windows of Opportunity for Better Justice in India Werner Menski Werner Menski 125–147
  - 148–174 Dead Letters? The Uniform Civil Code through the Eyes of the Indian Women's Movement and the Indian Supreme Court Tanja Herklotz Tanja Herklotz 148–174
  - 175–192 Juridification of the Right to Development in India Anna-Lena Wolf Anna-Lena Wolf 175–192
  - 193–215 School Management Committees as a Means for Bottom-Up Implementation of the Right to Education in India Florian Matthey-Prakash Florian Matthey-Prakash 193–215
- 216–232 Berichte / Reports 216–232
  - 216–219 Conference Report: "South Asia's Legal Landscapes: Legislation, Litigation and Social Realities" Sarah Holz, Tanja Herklotz Sarah Holz, Tanja Herklotz 216–219
  - 220–232 The Role of Lawyers in Fostering Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Multi-Door Courthouse Larry O. C. Chukwu, Kevin N. Nwosu Larry O. C. Chukwu, Kevin N. Nwosu 220–232
- 233–239 Buchbesprechungen / Book Reviews 233–239
  - 233–234 Philippe Cullet, Alix Gouwlland Gualtieri, Roopa Madhav, Usha Ramanathan (Hrg.), Water Law for the Twenty-First Century: National and International Aspects of Water Law Reform in India, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group London and New York, 2011 (Paperback), XIX, 332 Seiten, Paperback, US$ 54,95, ISBN 978-0-415-16559-7 233–234
  - 235–239 Saïd A. Arjomand/Nathan J. Brown (eds.), The Rule of Law, Islam, and Constitutional Politics in Egypt and Iran, State University of New York Press, Albany (New York), 2013, 90 $, 338 pages. ISBN 978-1-4384-4597-7 235–239
- 240–251 Bibliographie / Bibliography 240–251
  - 240–240 RECHT UND ENTWICKLUNG ALLGEMEIN / LAW AND DEVELOPMENT IN GENERAL 240–240
  - 240–243 AFRIKA /AFRICA 240–243
  - 243–245 ASIEN /ASIA 243–245
  - 245–247 LATEINAMERIKA / LATIN AMERICA 245–247
  - 247–251 NAHER UND MITTLERER OSTEN / NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST 247–251
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VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee , page 148 - 174

Dead Letters? The Uniform Civil Code through the Eyes of the Indian Women's Movement and the Indian Supreme Court

Autoren

Tanja Herklotz

DOI
- doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-2016-2-148
- ISSN: 0506-7286
- ISSN online: 2941-9603
Abstract

The proposal for a Uniform Civil Code for India to replace the existing religious personal law system appears to be the source of a never-ending debate. It has acted as a catalyst for discourses on national integration, modernity, secularism and more recently, gender equality. A panacea for inequality and a key to modernity for its proponents, the UCC is deemed a threat for those who have accepted legal pluralism as a reality and strive for other ways to reform personal laws. Assuming that on a global scale, academics, international organisations, NGOs and human rights activists move away from the state-centric legal uniformity approach towards the acceptance of "normative orderings beyond the state's reach", this paper poses the question as to whether article 44 of the Indian Constitution (a Directive Principle of State Policy which urges the state to introduce a Uniform Civil Code) has lost its meaning. This question will be assessed by analysing the discourses around the UCC within the Indian women's movement and the Indian Supreme Court, two actors that are believed to be avant-garde and striving to achieve an expansion of rights for vulnerable groups. When comparing the two protagonists against the background of their engagement with the UCC, their rhetoric and argumentation is astonishingly different. Nevertheless, this paper argues that despite their different rhetoric, both entities have in actual fact accepted legal pluralism. While the women's movement has turned away from its initial call for a UCC and now openly questions the feasibility of such a project, the Supreme Court pays lip service to the constitution in its rhetorical call for the Code while demonstrating no real action to push the project further. The court has been reluctant to declare personal laws unconstitutional and has not exhibited any of the activism it showcased in cases involving other Directive Principles. Nevertheless, this does not mean that article 44 is a "dead letter". Its essence - uniformity and equality - is gradually being carried out through other means: not through an all-encompassing legislative top-down reform, but through a gradual step-by-step approach.
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