Uttarakhand UCC rollout: 1 live-in relationship registered in first 10 days

Only one live-in relationship has been registered in Uttarakhand's Uniform Civil Code (UCC) portal in the first 10 days of its implementation.

Officials claimed that five applications have been received from live-in couples for the mandatory registration. One has been granted registration while four others are being verified, they said.

On January 27, the BJP-ruled Uttarakhand became the first state in Independent India to implement the Uniform Civil Code, which promotes equal laws for every citizen across all religions and standardises personal laws on marriage, divorce and property.

On the occasion, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami launched a portal designed for the mandatory online registration of marriages, divorce and live-in relationships. He was the first to register his marriage on the UCC portal.

The UCC's provision for mandatory registration of live-in relationships has been much criticised for its potential to infringe upon people's right to privacy. However, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had justified it by saying mandatory registration of live-in couples would help prevent brutal incidents like the murder of Shraddha Walkar by her live-in partner Aftab.

Senior lawyer of Uttarakhand High Court Kartikeya Hari Gupta went so far as to term it as a move to "peep into bedrooms", generally seen in police states which was not envisioned by the country's constitution makers.

"The initial not-so-enthusiastic response from people to the UCC shows that they are not quite eager for it. Otherwise, at least those who favoured its introduction during consultations with the drafting committee as claimed by the government-appointed panel would have come forward to apply for registration," another high court lawyer Dushyant Mainali told PTI.

Another possibility for this kind of initial response may be that people are not ready to disclose the details of their personal relationships on an official platform or they are not fully aware of the provisions of the UCC that include strict penal provisions for live-in couples who do not apply for registration of their relationship within a specified timeframe, he said.

As per the provisions of the UCC, if a live-in couple fails to submit a statement of their relationship within one month of entering into the alliance to the authorities concerned, they shall be punished on conviction by a judicial magistrate with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or a fine not exceeding Rs 10,000 or both.

The UCC says the punishment will extend to an imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of up to Rs 25,000 or both if a live-in couple does not apply for registration of their relationship even after being required to do so by a notice.

However, it is too early to come to any definitive conclusions about the UCC, Mainali said, adding that more people may comply with the law as they get a better understanding of the UCC and its provisions.

"However, people's initial response to it does show that the UCC was more on the political agenda of the state government than on people's mind," Mainali added.