Introduction

In 1985 a landmark judgement was delivered in the history of India. This case which bought a major
change in various loopholes in the legal system. The case was Mohammad Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano
Begum, this was three decades after the commencement of the Indian Constitution. This was the
first case where the Supreme Court of India directed the Parliament to frame the Uniform Civil Code
which is mentioned under Article 44 of the Indian Constitution. Uniform Civil Code is a term which
refers to the concept of an overarching civil law code in India. This takes away the rights of the
citizen to be governed under personal laws. It is a Directive Principle for the citizens under Article 44.
There has been debates since then for the implementation of UCC in India. Even after being
mentioned in the Constitution during its commencement it was not possible to carry out the
implementation process of the same. There was no societal acceptance back then nor were the
citizens of the nation ready to be governed by a single law leaving behind all their personal laws.  “It
is perfectly possible that the future parliament to implement may make a provision by way of
making a beginning that the code shall apply only to those who make a declaration that they are
prepared to bound by it, so that in the initial stage the application of the code may be purely
voluntary” were the words of the father of constitution Dr. B R Ambedkar . He was clear about
reckoning upon the acceptance of the citizens. There were debates over which various learned
scholars keep their persuasion based upon their understanding of the code. Some say of the
code co-existing with the personal laws, some stand with the notion of scrapping down of all
personal laws and few with the conviction of UCC taking away the freedom of religion
guaranteed under Article 25.