PANAJI
A collective of women's groups who deliberated on the National Law Commission's missive seeking feedback on implementation of an Uniform Civil Code (UCC) have resolved to seek more time as the issue needed to be sufficiently studied and a month's time is insufficient.
Earlier this week, several women's groups including Bailancho Ekvott, Bailancho Saad, Muslim Women's Association, Presentation Society Goa, Saad Aangan, Why Exclude and a host of concerned citizens had met at the Institute Menezes Braganza in the capital in a bid to deliberate on the UCC and formulate a response.
At the end of the meeting a resolution was passed to seek more time as the UCC involves complex matters covering a wide range of areas such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, succession, guardianship, adoption, marital property, inheritance, different forms of property, and other related matters such as gender just tenancy rights, gender just comunidade (village community as in Goa) holdings, community holdings, positions on conflict of laws among others.
"The goalpost has to be justice for all stakeholders in the family and for all communities, rather than uniformity," a statement by noted activist and lawyer, Albertina Almeida, issued on behalf of the group said.
Referring to the Portuguese Civil Code in force in Goa, Almeida's statement said, the State has "near uniform" family laws.
"We are concerned that in the rush for an Uniform Civil Code, we in Goa may lose the positive provisions we have like equal rights to parental property, as also the possibility of working towards reforms in each specific family law, including the family laws of Goa," it said.
"We urge the Law Commission of India to consider our concerns about substantive inequalities in the Goa family laws and grant time to all concerned to deliberate on and share our detailed documented views."
At the meeting, Vizilia de Sa of Moira Civic and Consumer Forum affirmed that
if women and concerned stakeholders do not have knowledge of the law there is no justice for women which throws up the need to seriously introduce within the laws provisions mandating awareness.
De Sa expressed concern over the hype being created around the UCC and the need to make specific provisions factoring the needs of disadvantaged stakeholders in the family such as widows, persons with special needs, LGBTQI plus persons.
Lawyer and activist Caroline Collasso highlighted the fact that Goa’s law was not totally uniform and even where it is, some provisions were uniform in discrimination, such as the provision giving the male spouse the prerogative to manage the marital property.
Collasso also drew attention to the discriminatory provisions in the Code of Customs and Usages of Gentile Hindus of Goa, where for instance, a male child was permitted to be adopted.
Dr Sabina Martins of Bailancho Saad traced the history of women’s struggles related to
family laws in Goa and brought out evidence based concerns such as manoeuvring the positions regarding conflict of laws, the lack of synchronisation of the laws with laws related to tenancy, mundkarship and comunidades (village communes).
Rashida Muzawar of Muslim Women’s Association made a case for extension of personal laws from the rest of the country into Goa and also incorporating changes in the Goa laws.
She also expressed the fear prevailing in the Muslim community, including its women, in the current times where the community is being targeted, she felt.
