Panel will steer clear of Muslim marriage laws

THE LAW COMMISSION FIRMED UP ITS STAND AFTER THE SC ADMITTED PLEAS ON PRACTICES OF POLYGAMY AND NIKAH

NEWDELHI: The Law Commission of India, the country’s top law advisory body, which is working on a draft Uniform Civil Code (UCC), will steer clear of most personal laws relating to Muslim marriage and divorce so as to avoid a conflict with t he Supreme Court, chairman Balbir Singh Chauhan said on Thursday.

The commission firmed up its stand days after the Supreme Court admitted pleas to examine the practices of polygamy, nikah halala, nikah mutta and nikah misyar . The last three are different types of temporary contractual marriages.

“How can we touch what is sub judice? The effect of the Supreme Court’s decision will be binding upon us,” Chauhan, a former judge of the top court, explained. He said the commission would, however, still examine Muslim personal laws “relating to adoption and succession”.

The commission has till the end of its term in August to submit its report on the UCC while the SC admitted the pleas on March 26.

The commission’s decision effectively means that it will not deliberate on the most politically contentious and hotly debated personal laws. The Shah Bano case in 1986, after which the government brought in a law to negate the effect of an SC judgment awarding maintenance to the plaintiff, triggered the debate over the constitutional allowance for different communities to follow their personal laws with regards to marriage, divorce, maintenance, adoption and succession.

Hindu family laws were modified in the 1950s but those for the Christians and Muslims are colonial-era relics.