Centre’s reply sought on PIL seeking uniform law

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court sought the Centre’s response on Friday on a petition filed by a London-based non-resident Indian (NRI) woman seeking a uniform law for joint custodial rights of children in cases of matrimonial disputes.

The petitioner claimed that at present, the personal law of Hindus, Muslims, Christians and other communities allows custodial rights only to one of the spouses and in most cases, it’s the man who is given the preference.

A bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued notice after the petitioner’s lawyer, Kaleeswaram Raj, argued the personal and special laws are gender-discriminatory because they give preferential rights to men, violating the equality clause in the Constitution. The petitioner was identified as Sulochana Rani, who argued that the existing legal provisions are in the nature of entrusting the custody of children exclusively to one of the parents in case of separation. This affects the fundamental rights of the spouse who is denied the custody rights.

Even the child is deprived of care and love of both parents. Therefore, the scheme of statutes requires reformation, the petitioner stated.

Pleading for a child-centric approach, the petitioner said the idea of shared parenting does not find a place in the family laws of the country.

“Due to the absence of shared parentage system in India, the fundamental rights of the children are violated,” the petition said.

“Currently, custody is given to one of the spouses only and the other spouse is given visitation rights. There is no rational basis in going for such an option violating the fundamental rights of the other spouse,” the petition added.