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Resolving the Constitutional Dilemma of the Uniform Civil Code in India through the Women’s Convention

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Abstract

The debate over the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is mired in the conflict between the right to freedom of religion and the right to gender-based equality. The retraction of the UCC also hinges on legal pluralism. This paper argues for shifting the foci of the debate towards gender-based violence as rightly suggested by the feminist argument in India. In order to do so, this paper argues that the debate over the UCC needs to be restructured around the Due Diligence Obligation (DDO) to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This paper presents the argument that the absence of a UCC creates a normative vacuum that is currently filled by an intersubjective climate on patriarchy which primes the average Indian mindset. This intersubjective mindset requires to be replaced by the normative language of the DDO to the CEDAW. This process of norm effectuation also ties into the question of how international norms are implemented in domestic contexts and reiterates the causal chain propounded therein.

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Notes

  1. It is a well recognized proposition that the UCC represents a premise for national integration. This paper situates the debate over the UCC over the contention between the right to freedom of religion and the right to GBE to contour the debate along the lines of the DDO which is based on a conflict between the right to freedom of religion and the right to GBE.

  2. It is to be noted that the substance of the CEDAW’s DDO reiterates the necessity for a UCC and CEDAW Committee members have repeatedly called forth for the enactment of a UCC. See: Sally Engle Merry, Constructing a Global Law-Violence against Women and the Human Rights System, 28 Law Soc. Inq. 941, 963 (2003), http://www.jstor.org/stable/1215792. Further an argument does also exist for retaining the existing system of Personal Laws and merely redressing the gender discriminatory provisions on the basis of the DDO. The stance of this paper is limited to a UCC in accordance with the CEDAW’s DDO.

  3. UN General Assembly, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 18 December 1979, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1249, p. 13, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3970.html [accessed 20 September 2022].

  4. UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence against women, 1992, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52d920c54.html [accessed 20 September 2022].

  5. Article 13 in The Constitution Of India 1949; Available at: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/134715/; Accessed September 22nd 2022.

  6. Article 14 in The Constitution Of India 1949; Available at: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/367586/; Accessed September 22nd 2022; Article 15 in The Constitution Of India 1949; Available at: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/609295/; Accessed September 22nd 2022; Article 21 in The Constitution Of India 1949; Available at: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1199182/#:~:text=Central%20Government%20Act-,Article%2021%20in%20The%20Constitution%20Of%20India%201949,to%20procedure%20established%20by%20lawAccessed September 22nd 2022.

  7. Article 25 in The Constitution Of India 1949; Available at: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/631708/; Accessed on September 22nd 2022.

  8. Article 44 in the Constitution of India, 1949; Available at: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1406604/; Accessed Septmeber 22nd 2022.

  9. AIR 1952 Bom 84.

  10. (Nussbaum 2001) Implementing Sex Equality Through Law.” Chi. J. Int’l L. 2 (2001): 35.

  11. Chapter IX, Laws of Manu; Available at: https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu09.htm; Accessed September 22nd 2022.

  12. Paragraph 3, Chapter IX, Laws of Manu; Available at: https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu09.htm; Accessed September 22nd 2022.

  13. Paragraph 4, Chapter IX, Laws of Manu; Available at: https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu09.htm; Accessed September 22nd 2022.

  14. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; Available at: https://highcourtchd.gov.in/hclscc/subpages/pdf_files/4.pdf; Accessed September 22nd 2022.

  15. The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021; Ministry: Women and Child Development; Available at: https://prsindia.org/billtrack/the-prohibition-of-child-marriage-amendment-bill-2021#:~:text=The%20Prohibition%20of%20Child%20Marriage%20(Amendment)%20Bill%2C%202021%20seeks,Sports%20on%20December%2021%2C%202021; Accessed September 22nd 2022.

  16. Kamaladevi v. Shiva Kumar Swamy, AIR 2003 Kar 36.

  17. Section 304B in the Indian Penal Code; Available at: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/653797/; Accessed September 18th 2022.

  18. Jane Rudd, ‘Dowry-Murder: An Example of Violence against Women’ (2001) 24 Women’s Studies International Forum 513, 514 < http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277539501001960 > accessed 4 July 2020.

  19. Paragraph 1, UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence against women, 1992, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52d920c54.html [accessed 19 September 2022].

  20. UN Commission on Human Rights, Report on violence against women, its causes and consequence, Report on the mission of the Special Rapporteur to Brazil on the issue of domestic violence (15-26 July 1996), 21 January 1997, E/CN.4/1997/47/Add.2, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3b00f4108.html [accessed 23 September 2022].

  21. UN General Assembly, Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, 20 December 1993, A/RES/48/104, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3b00f25d2c.html [accessed 23 September 2022].

  22. Paragraph 7 (b), UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence against women, 1992, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52d920c54.html [accessed 19 September 2022].

  23. UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence against women, 1992, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52d920c54.html [accessed 19 September 2022].

  24. Paragraph 1, UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence against women, 1992, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52d920c54.html [accessed 19 September 2022].

  25. Paragraph 4, UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence against women, 1992, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52d920c54.html [accessed 19 September 2022].

  26. Paragraph 4 & 11, UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence against women, 1992, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52d920c54.html [accessed 19 September 2022].

  27. Paragraph 11, UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence against women, 1992, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52d920c54.html [accessed 19 September 2022].

  28. Paragraph 11, UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence against women, 1992, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/52d920c54.html [accessed 19 September 2022].

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  1. University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Shritha K. Vasudevan

  2. Chennai, India

    Shritha K. Vasudevan

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Vasudevan, S.K. Resolving the Constitutional Dilemma of the Uniform Civil Code in India through the Women’s Convention. Liverpool Law Rev 44, 157–181 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10991-023-09323-z

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