Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami Tables Uniform Civil Code Bill In State Assembly

DEHRADUN: The landmark Uniform Civil Code bill was tabled in the Uttarakhand Assembly on Tuesday, on the second day of the special assembly session convened to enact the legislation.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami introduced this bill amid chants of 'Jai Shree Ram' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

If passed by the house, BJP-ruled Uttarakhand will become the first state post-independence to implement the UCC.

Ahead of tabling the bill, the Congress-led opposition members accused the government of not providing them time to study its provisions, as a result of which, they staged a protest inside the house.

Members of the opposition also raised slogans to voice their anger. However, they were conciliated after Uttarakhand Assembly speaker Ritu Khanduri assured them that enough time will be provided to them to study the bill.

Meanwhile, the state cabinet, on Sunday, led by CM Dhami, cleared the UCC bill with the intention of establishing a common set of personal laws for all citizens, irrespective of their religion, gender or sexual orientation.

As per sources, some of the key highlights of the UCC bill tabled today is to ensure equal property rights for son and daughter, abolishing the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children, inclusivity of adopted and biologically born children and equal property rights after death.

Apart from these, other major possible recommendations include prohibition of polygamy and child marriage, uniform age for girls across all religions and enforcing similar grounds and procedures for divorce.

Meanwhile, the five-member panel of the UCC draft committee, headed by retired judge of the Supreme Court Ranjana Prakash Desai, had submitted a 740 page report - divided into four volumes - on February 2 to CM Dhami.

It is worth mentioning that the UCC panel had earlier received as many as 2.33 lakh written suggestions online and conducted over 70 meetings in which its members interacted with around 60,000 people in the course of preparing the draft.

Security has also been beefed up around the Assembly premises as the special session to pass the bill, which will continue until February 8, gets underway.

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