News Brief
Uniform Civil Code To Be Rolled Out In Uttarakhand From Tomorrow, First State In The Country Post-Independence To Implement UCC
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state on Tuesday (28 January), Uttarakhand is set to roll out the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) from tomorrow (27 January), making it the first state in the country to implement the secular civil law after independence.
This comes after completion of the training of government employees on the UCC rules, mock drills and dry-run sessions.
Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will launch the official portal for the UCC and issue a notification marking the implementation of the civil code on 27 January.
"The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented in the state from 27 January 2025, making Uttarakhand the first state in independent India where this law will come into effect," Dhami said in a post in Hindi on X.
"All the necessary preparations have been completed to implement UCC, which includes approval of the rules of the Act and training of the concerned officials," he added.
According to the Uttarakhand CM, UCC will bring uniformity in the society and ensure equal rights and responsibilities for all citizens.
"Under the Uniform Civil Code, an attempt has been made to bring uniformity in all laws relating to personal civil matters that discriminate on the basis of caste, religion, sex etc," the CM added.
The Uttarakhand UCC law aims to create uniform rules for personal matters, including marriage, divorce, inheritance, and property rights, ensuring equal application to all citizens regardless of religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
The law consists of 392 sections across four parts and seven chapters.
It grants equal rights to women in marriage, divorce, alimony, and property inheritance, prohibits certain relationships, bans polygamy, sets the marriage age at 21 for men and 18 for women, and mandates marriage registration.
The state's Scheduled Tribe population which comprises 2.89 per cent of the population are exempted from this law.
Some of the key provisions of the bills include making halala, iddat, and triple talaq – practices governing marriage and divorce under the Muslim personal law – punishable offences.
The bill also makes registration of live-in relationships mandatory, and proposes equal property inheritance rights to sons and daughters.
