A divisive civil code passed in the Indian state, Muslims objected

An Indian state on Wednesday replaced religious laws with the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Supporters say it protects women’s rights, but critics fear it could be enforced across the country by the Hindu nationalist ruling party.

According to French news agency AFP, the Uniform Civil Code passed in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand has sparked a divisive debate in the weeks ahead of expected national elections.

Supporters say the law gives Muslim women rights that include banning multiple husbands from marrying, equal inheritance rights for sons and daughters, and requiring divorce to go before a civil court.

The law sets the minimum age for marriage at 18 for women and 21 for men, and makes it mandatory to register same-sex relationships, or face three months in jail or a fine.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had said before the bill was passed that it would end “wrongful practices” and “equal rights for all.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has long campaigned for uniform civil laws for all, but this has raised concerns, particularly among minority Muslims.

The move comes weeks after Modi inaugurated a grand temple in Ayodhya, where Hindu extremists demolished a Mughal-era mosque.

Critics see it as a basis for the ruling BJP to fulfill its promise to implement the UCC at the national level.

In the state, where about 80 percent of the 1.2 million population is Hindu, Dhami, a leader, said: ‘History is being made, it will be an example for other states.’

Prohibition of polygamy, child marriage

India’s 1.4 billion people are subject to a common criminal law, which was introduced under British colonial rule.

But they follow different rather than uniform rules for personal matters like marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance.

Muslim leaders say the UCC is against Islamic laws on divorce, marriage and inheritance.

“We cannot accept any law that is against Sharia law,” said Arshad Madani of the Muslim social organization Jamiat Ulema Hind.

Asma Zahra, head of All India Muslim Women’s Association, says, ‘We want our marriage system to be run according to the Holy Quran.

‘The problem of child marriage can be solved through social reforms, not by imposing laws without consulting us.’

Objections have also been raised to other provisions including the registration of cohabiting partners.

“Compulsory registration takes away the freedom to choose not to marry,” senior lawyer Geeta Luthra told The Indian Express newspaper.

Luthra added that the state “should not enter the sphere of what citizens do of their own volition.”

Goa, a coastal state on India’s west coast, is the only part of the country that already had a common code of conduct, when it was a Portuguese colony.