Rolling out UCC, Pushkar Singh Dhami says ‘aim to ensure an Aaftab never commits brutality against a Shraddha Walkar’

“Live-in relationships mein…sambandh kharab hone ke baad maar peet hui hai, hinsa ghatnayen hui hai. Bahut baar isme hatyayen bhi hui hain. Dilli ka 2022 ka case hua tha Shraddha Walkar aur Aaftab. Isme 300-litre ke fridge mein, Shraddha Walkar ko kaatke usko daal diya gaya tha. Isiliye, humare ye uddeshya hai ki ab koi bhi Shraddha Walkar jaisi kisi bhi beti ke saath, kisi bhi behen ke saath, koi Aaftab is prakaar ki hainvaniyat na kar saken. Isliye humne iska praavdhan kiya hai. (In live-in relationships, there are instances wherein, after a falling out, there has been violence and even murders. In Delhi, Shraddha Walkar was killed by Aaftab, chopped into pieces and stored in a 300-litre fridge. Through UCC, we aim to ensure that an Aaftab never commits brutality against our daughters or sisters like Shraddha Walkar),” the CM said after launching the UCC portal.

Aaftab Poonawala is accused of killing Walkar at Chattarpur Pahadi in South Delhi in 2022.

Dhami said “evil practices” such as halala, iddat, triple talaq, child marriage and others have been abolished. “This is not to target any community,” he said.

UCC will apply to every Uttarakhand native living in India and every resident of the state.

Declaring January 27 as Uniform Civil Code Day, Dhami said the day was historic not just for Uttarakhand, but for the entire country. “From this moment, every woman of all religions will have the same rights,” he said. Chief Secretary Radha Raturi said the law would ensure equal rights for “our sisters”.

Bringing a UCC was among the BJP’s elections promises ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls in Uttarakhand, and helped bring the Pushkar Singh Dhami government to power in the state.

Dhami said that although it took three years to implement the UCC, the state government was able to fulfil the promise with the help of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “This is a constitutional solution to prevent discrimination in family laws on the grounds of religion and gender,” he said.

The chairperson of the committee that framed the rules for the UCC, Shatrughan Singh, said that Dr B R Ambedkar had advocated for such a law.

“Discussion and debates had taken place in the Constituent Assembly on whether it (the UCC) should be included in the Fundamental Rights, but it was later included in the Directive Principles. The Supreme Court had also asked the executive to prepare UCC,” he said.

Singh said that before the framing of the draft for the Bill, “We went through the Law Commission’s reports on family laws, and read the Parliamentary Committees’ reports. Later, we approached the public for their recommendations.”

On privacy concerns, Singh said the rule-framing committee was mindful about the sharing of private information.

“We have open access data and restricted data. In open access, we will give the figures of how many people have registered. However, the details, including one’s faith, will not be for everyone to see. The data is available for couples who want to check details of each other, regarding former relationships and marriage registration. We will give them the date only only if they come jointly,” Singh said, adding, “We had recommended an alternative mechanism for reconciliation in disputes, but it has not been retained.”

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