AIMPLB says UCC unacceptable, PM’s ‘secular civil code’ pitch objectionable

From the ramparts of Red Fort on Thursday, PM Modi had said, “… I say it is the need of the hour that there should be a Secular Civil Code in the country. We have spent 75 years under the Communal Civil Code. Now we will have to move towards a Secular Civil Code. Only then we will get relief from the discrimination happening on the basis of religion in the country…”

It is a “well thought out conspiracy that will have grave ramifications,” Ilyas said. He said the government “should uphold the observation made by the BJP government’s appointed Chairman of Law Commission who had categorically stated in 2018 that, ‘UCC is neither necessary nor desirable’.”

“The Board considers it important to mention that the Muslims of India have made it clear many times that their family laws are based on Sharia, which no Muslim can deviate from, at any cost and added that the Legislature of the country itself, has approved the Shariat Application Act, 1937, and the Constitution of India has declared it a fundamental right under Article 25 to profess, propagate and practice religion,” Ilyas said.

The family laws of other communities are also based on their own religious and ancient traditions, he said, adding that “tampering with them and trying to create secular ones for all is basically a negation of religion and an imitation of the West.”

The UCC mentioned in the Directive Principles under Chapter IV of the Constitution is a mere direction and all the directives in this chapter are not mandatory nor can they be enforceable by the courts, Ilyas said.

These Directive Principles cannot supercede the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution under Chapter III, he said.

Questioning the prime minister’s intention, he said, Modi is “only targeting the Sharia law as he doesn’t want to invite the displeasure of other groups.”