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Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami stated that the provision of the registering live-in-relationship in the Uniform Civil Code has been made to deter incidents like the Shraddha Walkar murder case.
Defending the provision, CM Dhami told reporters here,"...In the Uniform Civil Code, we have made a provision to register live-in relationships so that no one like Aaftab can do such brutality again. What is wrong with this? When we were drafting the UCC, we had called opposition parties, including Congress, to give their views..." Shraddha Walkar was allegedly murdered by her live-in partner, Aftab Amin Poonawala, on May 18, 2022. After the killing, the accused cut off the body into 35 pieces and threw them in the jungle to destroy the evidence. CM Dhami said the UCC drafting committee had invited all the stakeholders, including Congress, to put forward their views. "The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has been implemented following the Constitution of India... Congress is against women empowerment and they do not care about the safety of women,", he said. Uttarakhand became the first state to implement UCC. The Uniform Civil Code seeks to establish a set of uniform, personal laws that apply to all citizens, regardless of religion, gender, or caste. This would cover aspects such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance, and succession. The UCC applies to all residents of Uttarakhand, except Scheduled Tribes and protected authority-empowered persons and communities. This Act does not apply to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) notified under Article 342 and Article 366 (25) of the Constitution and protected authority-empowered persons and communities under Part XXI have also been excluded from its purview. To streamline and simplify the legal processes related to marriage, a public welfare system promoting the protection of individual rights and social harmony has been provided in the Uniform Civil Code Act, 2024 of Uttarakhand, the statement added. Under this, marriage can be solemnised only between those parties, none of whom has a living spouse, both are mentally capable of giving legal permission, the man should have completed at least 21 years of age and the woman 18 years of age and they should not be in the ambit of prohibited relationships. (ANI)
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