Hindustan Would Run As Per Wishes of Majority: High Court judge

New Delhi: Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav, a sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court, recently said that "Hindustan would run as per the wishes of the majority people" living in the nation. This is the law.... The law, in fact, works according to the majority. Look at it in the context of family or society... Only what benefits the welfare and happiness of the majority will be accepted," Live Law quoted Yadav as saying. 

He was speaking at an event organised by Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Prayagraj. "The main objective of the Uniform Civil Code is to promote social harmony, gender equality and secularism by eliminating unequal legal systems based on different religions and communities. A Uniform Civil Code refers to a common law that applies to all religious communities in personal matters such as marriage, inheritance, divorce, adoption etc," he said.  

"The aim of the Uniform Civil Code is to replace various personal laws that currently govern personal matters within different religious communities. Its goal is to ensure uniformity of laws not only between communities but also within a community," the judge added.

The chief guest, VHP national co-convener Abhishek Atrey, talked about the Waqf Amendment Act. He also said, "Bangladesh looks like another Kashmir. We all have to stay united to protect our identity." Allahabad HC senior advocate V P Srivastava shared his experience on the topic 'Conversion - Causes and Prevention.' Activists from Jaunpur, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Amethi, Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Ghazipur, and Varanasi were present at the convention.

Uniform Civil Code

On March 13 this year, President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the Uniform Civil Code Bill, passed by the Uttarakhand Assembly on February 7, making it the first state in the country after Independence to adopt the UCC.

On December 6, the Centre rejected suggestions that it had issued guidelines to states to implement a UCC.

Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, in a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha, asserted, "No such guidelines were issued by the Government of India to state governments for implementing the uniform civil code." A consultation paper issued on August 31, 2018, the 21st Law Commission, headed by Justice (retired) B S Chauhan, said the diversity of India's culture can and should be celebrated, and specific groups or weaker sections of the society must not be "dis-privileged" in the process.

The commission said it had dealt with the laws that were discriminatory rather than providing a uniform civil code, "Which is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage." The paper said most countries are now moving towards recognition of difference, and the mere existence of difference does not imply discrimination but is indicative of a robust democracy.

A uniform civil code in India has been a key agenda of successive election manifestos of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Justice Shekhar Yadav Not New to News

Justice Shekhar Yadav was in the news earlier over his observations made during a case.

In a case of cow slaughter in September 2021, he had said, "Cow should be declared the national animal and cow protection should be kept in the fundamental rights of Hindus because when the culture and faith of the country is hurt, the country becomes weak." He had termed the cow to have an important place in Indian culture.

"The great importance of cow has been shown in Indian Vedas, Puranas, Ramayana etc. For this reason, cow is the basis of our culture.

"It is not that only Hindus have understood the importance of cow. Muslims also considered cow as an important part of Indian culture and Muslim rulers had banned the slaughter of cows during their rule," he had observed.