Plea Filed In Supreme Court For Intervention In Petition Seeking Uniform Grounds Of Divorce

OVERVIEW

A petition has been filed by women’s rights organization of Mumbai so that it can be allowed to interfere in the main petition filed by Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay to seek uniform grounds of divorce without discrimination on basis of religion, caste, race, sex or place of birth.

BharatiyaStree Shakti (petitioner), is looking for a relevant direction to the Central Government to formulate a law providing uniform grounds of divorce and uniformity with respect to grant of alimony for women, regardless of their religion.

BHARATIYA STREE SHAKTI

BharatiyaStree Shakti published a report in 2017 along with National Commission for Women, "Efficacy of Laws Pertaining to Property and Marital Rights in Different Religions in India" This is the reason why the applicant wants to help in formulation of uniform law on divorce.

It is to be noted that the petitioner has no business, propriety or pecuniary motive to assist in the present case.

SUPREME COURT’S RESPONSE

A Bench comprising of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justice V Ramasubramanian and A S Bopanna presented notices to the Ministry of Law and Justice, Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Women and Child Development on the plea.

NEED FOR UNIFORM LAWS

The Declaration on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1967 requests all the governments to take appropriate course of action to abolish existing laws, customs, regulations, and practices discriminating women.

Article 44 of the Indian Constitution states that the State shall endeavor to secure a Uniform Civil Code for citizens throughout Indian Territory.

Article 14 of the Constitution grants equal protection of law to all its citizens but still there is prevalence of personal laws regarding personal issues like marriage, divorce etc.

This uniform law regarding divorce of women may act as a first step in establishing a uniform civil code .

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS REGARDING A UNIFORM LAW REGARDING DIVORCE? DO LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!