Common Personal Law

We have to insist on a common personal law for all citizens of India. All marriages in India must be registered under a common civil code. Children born of inter-religious marriages should be free to practice any religion but only after they reach legal age of adulthood.

          - Hamid Dalwai (Muslim Politics in India)

The above view of Mr. Dalwai is the perfect recipe for a secular India, which is the fundamental value of the constitution. It will also put a curb on the showbiz associated with the marriages. If all the marriages will take place in front a registrar, the cases of dowry will be reduced. Marriage which should primarily be a personal affair has been a social affair, which puts pressure on both the parties to bow down under the societal pressures.

The word used is common civil law and not uniform civil law, which was advocated by the constitution makers under the Article 44 of the Directive Principles of the State Policy.

So it goes one step ahead of what the constitution makers intended .

With more inter-religious and inter-caste marriages, we will move towards a more inclusive and integrated society and there will be tolerance for different faiths and belief systems.

Children born of inter-religious marriages will have no religion by birth, and they will then reason out their religion which they want to follow.

A common personal law will solve the issues of marital disputes with uniformity and the relief to the aggrieved parties can be then based on uniform laws. The need to convert to different religions for taking the benefit of personal laws will also get denounced.

"Religious conversion should not be allowed, except when the intending convert is adult and the conversion takes place before the magistrate."

 - Hamid Dalwai

When the conversion will take place before a magistrate, there will be no reason the religious heads will say that it was because of their persuasion and fights between the communities will be less as this type of conversion will be a more private affair as the religion should be.