The Hindu : 'Common civil code impracticable'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 27, 2003

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'Common civil code impracticable'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 26. The All-India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) said today that the Chief Justice, V.N. Khare's observations on a uniform civil code has revived a controversial issue and came as a "windfall for the sangh parivar to stir up communal polarisation in an already divided society".

In a statement, issued by its president, Syed Shahabuddin, the AIMMM said it "failed to understand Justice Khare's logic". "The Constitution brackets freedom of conscience with freedom of religion. The Constitution cannot, therefore, ignore the essentials of religious faiths based on scriptures."

The AIMMM said that Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had cautioned the Constituent Assembly against imposition of a uniform civil code on any unwilling community. This was why no government had enacted a common civil code or interfered with the personal law of any community, unless the community desired its intervention. This conduct, it said, was "in consonance with the repeated assurances given to the Muslim community during the freedom movement".

The idea of a common civil code was "impracticable", the AIMMM said and called on the Government "not to load the shoulders of the nation with another controversial issue".

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