Justice Katju on Uniform Civil Code

Justice Markandey Katju, a retired Supreme Court judge and former chairman of the Press Council of India, has said that Muslims will benefit from a Uniform Civil Code, but they will be fooled by reactionary clerics.

Justice Katju made the remarks while posting a link of The Scroll to “Delhi High Court calls for a Uniform Civil Code in India, asks Center to take necessary steps” on his verified Facebook page.

His full Facebook post is below :

The need for UCC

I was happy to know that the Delhi High Court has held that India should have a uniform civil code ( UCC ).

I am no supporter of the BJP, but I strongly believe that there should be a uniform civil code in India, as envisaged by Article 44 of our Constitution, and as the Delhi High Court has held. In almost all modern countries there is a UCC.

The old Hindu law was almost totally abolished by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, etc, but Hindus still go to temples, do puja, etc.

So also, by abolishing  the outdated, feudal Sharia law Islam will not be abolished. Muslims will still go to mosques, say namaz, etc. But it was not abolished because the so called ’secular’ parties were afraid of losing the Muslim vote bank.

Muslims will in fact benefit by UCC as it will be a step in their modernisation. But they were befooled by the reactionary maulanas, who hold them in their clutches, that if sharia is abolished Islam will be abolished.

The sharia law did not come from God. It arose out of the social customs prevailing in Arabia in the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. Law reflects the social conditions prevailing at a particular time in history. So they have to change as society changes. Can we have Manusmriti today ? Certainly not.

It is therefore high time to have a UCC.