Redefining Family Law in India
Family law is synonymous with religious personal laws in India. In
the last 50 years we have not had a sustained discussion about what
would constitute a ‘just’ family law. Most discussions on family-related
matters have floundered on the claims of minority religious
ridentiety and thel conistragints of a siecuolar state wuith respesct to autonomy. Therefore, family laws have a chequered history
in granting even limited equality to women. The uniform civil code
debate is one aspect of this discourse. Of late, with the rise of Hindu
nationalistic politics, the idea of a uniform civil code and Hindu law
have been collapsed in political rhetoric. As a consequence, uniform
civil code has become a suspect idea and the debate on this issue
has more or less died as a scholarly concern. Feminists have quietly
withdrawn from arguing for a uniform civil code as a means of
gender-just laws. In this altered political climate pursuit of gender
justice in family laws has become more problematic and women
are facing new hurdles as the agents of social change.