Nagaland Baptist Church Council claims adoption of UCC will violate minorities' and tribal people's rights

As the Law Commission solicited input from various stakeholders on the need for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) throughout the country, a religious organisation and a tribal organisation in Nagaland claimed that the adoption of such a code would violate minorities' and tribal people's basic rights. 

The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) voiced concern that if the UCC is formed, it will infringe minority' freedom to practise their faith. 

The Nagaland Tribal Council (NTC) claims that the UCC will weaken the provisions of Article 371A of the Constitution, which provides that no Act of Parliament will apply to the state in situations relevant to Naga religious or social practises, Naga customary law and procedure, and other things. 

A UCC entails establishing a non-religious common law for all citizens of the nation. A common code is likely to encompass personal laws as well as rules relating to inheritance, adoption, and succession. 

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“Codifying the social-cultural and the religious practices by way of negating the deep-rooted values and norms of the people, especially that of the tribals and the religious minority, will amount to a violation of the fundamental rights of the marginalised minority in the country,” the NBCC said. 

The Centre's action is an attempt to exploit the minority's social, cultural, and religious rights, according to a statement by NBCC general secretary Rev Dr Zelhou Keyho. He claims that if the UCC is adopted, it will weaken Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom.  

The NTC urged that Nagaland be excluded from the scope of the UCC in order to preserve the "hard-earned inalienable provisions" of Article 371A. Nagaland became the 16th state of the Indian Union on December 1, 1963, due to a political arrangement known as the 16-Point Arrangement of 1960. "By this deed of agreement, special provision with respect to the State of Nagaland was accorded vide Article 371A of the Constitution of India," the NTC stated in a letter to the 22nd Law Commission on Saturday. 

According to the tribal group, it submitted the exact representation to the 21st Law Commission in 2016. 

On two occasions, the 21st Law Commission, whose mandate concluded in August 2018, studied the matter and invited input from all parties. 2018 a consultation paper on "Reforms of Family Law" was released. The BJP's electoral manifestos included the implementation of a UCC.