01/05/2026
The recent proceedings before the Supreme Court of India, seeking the Union’s response to a challenge against aspects of Muslim inheritance law as discriminatory to women, have predictably reignited the call for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
The instinct is familiar: when confronted with inequity within a system, replace the system altogether. When the Court expressed a poignant concern: that merely striking down the 1937 Act might create a “legal vacuum,” leaving Muslim women without the protection of any statutory law, the response was that the Indian Succession Act (ISA) could be made applicable as though the law is perfect.
This reflex for UCC risks confusing uniformity with justice; pitching for ISA as an ideal replacement buries under carpet several serious deficits in the existing legislation that is yet to adopt several salutary amendments suggested in 247th report of Law Commission recommendations for alteration of the scheme of inheritance and class of heirs in several situations. The present moment instead demands a more difficult, but ultimately more durable, path—systematic internal reform of personal laws across communities.
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