Indus Valley Times

Uttarakhand, Feb 6 :  Individuals, who are in, or planning to enter into live-in relationships, should register themselves under Uttarakhand’s Uniform Civil Code (UCC) once it comes into law. Those who fail to adhere to the rules will face a jail term of up to six months and a fine of Rs 25,000 or both.

A bill on the UCC — which proposes uniform marriage, divorce, land, property and inheritance laws for all citizens irrespective of their religion — was tabled in the Uttarakhand assembly earlier today amid chants of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram”.

As per the proposed law, parental consent is required for individuals below the age of 21 and should submit a statement to the Registrar stating whether they are residents of Uttarakhand or not.

According to the proposed UCC in Uttarakhand, if individuals stay in a live-in relationship for more than a month without submitting a statement, they could be punished and sent to jail for up to three months or fined Rs 10,000 or both.

If live-in partners withhold information or give a false statement in their undertaking, they will face imprisonment for up to three months and a fine not exceeding Rs 25,000 or both, the proposed UCC states.

The statements of live-in partners will be forwarded to the officer in charge of a local police station. The police station will be informed by the authorities if the details provided in the statement turn out to be incorrect.

As per the Uttarakhand UCC, a woman who has been deserted in a live-in relationship can approach the court and is entitled to claim maintenance.

A child in a live-in relationship will be declared the legitimate child of the couple under the UCC provisions.

However, there are exceptions to registration of live-in relationships in Uttarakhand:

A live-in relationship between two people will not be registered if the partners are in a prohibited relationship.

Prohibited relationships refer to certain familial connections that legally disallow individuals from marrying or engaging in sexual intercourse with each other. These restrictions are based on degrees of consanguinity (blood relation) and, in some cases, affinity (relation by marriage).

When one of the individuals is married or is already in a live-in relationship.

When at least one of the individuals is a minor.

When the consent of one of the partners was obtained by force, coercion, undue influence, misrepresentation or fraud.

How to terminate a live-in relationship:

To end a live-in relationship, both the partners, or either of them, should submit a statement of termination to the Registrar within whose jurisdiction such residents ordinarily reside.

A partner who wants to end the live-in relationship should submit a copy of the termination statement to his/her partner.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami presented the UCC bill in the state assembly earlier today. In a symbolic gesture, he entered the assembly with an original copy of the Constitution.

Once it becomes an act, Uttarakhand will become the first state in the country after Independence to adopt the UCC.

Passing a legislation on the UCC will fulfil a major promise made by the BJP to the people of the state in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly polls, which saw the saffron party storm to power with a landslide victory for the second consecutive term.

Several BJP-ruled states in the country, including Gujarat and Assam, have expressed their keenness to follow the Uttarakhand UCC as a model.

-The India Today