While some may see the Uniform Civil Code as a way to ensure equal rights to women from all communities, Uttarakhand’s Uniform Civil Code bill contains some provisions that clearly seem to intrude into people’s personal life and privacy.The most egregious of these seems to be the requirement to ‘register’ all ‘live in’ relationships — and breakups — with a local government officer.The local government registrar will then conduct an inquiry to make sure that the live-in relationship is not ‘illegal’ in any way.This declaration of the live-in relationship shall be done in a laid down format for “statement of live-in relationship”.There is also another form — “statement of termination of relationship” — to be used when you break up with your partner.The rules apply to all unmarried couples who are in Uttarakhand, “whether they are a resident of Uttarakhand or not”, indicating that it would apply to visitors and tourists as well.Among the things the registrar must look into, when conducting his inquiry, is whether both parties are above the marriageable age and whether both are single. Registrars may find the going tough, given that ‘single’, under this definition, means not only that both should be unmarried, but also that neither should be in any other relationship.Finally, there is also a provision for attaching a parental consent form with the application in case one of the couples is below 21 years of age. It is now clear what the minimum age stipulated by the bill to enter into a live-in relationship.However, the bill is not totally inconsiderate to lovers. On the positive side, couples have been given one month to inform the authorities of their relationships. However, if you fail to inform the authorities of your live-in relationships, both parties involved can end up in jail for three months and slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000.Interestingly, the provisions of the bill, however, does not apply to any person born into a community identified in the Scheduled Tribes list.The bill also prohibits people from entering into such relationships when one of the partners already has a living spouse and if they share a common ancestry or they are the wife/husband of a common ancestor.
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