The country will run as per the wishes of its majority, an Allahabad High Court judge said on Sunday at an event organised by the Hindutva group Vishwa Hindu Parishad, The Hindu reported.
Yadav also uttered a slur used for circumcised Muslims and described the community as “harmful to the country”, reported Bar and Bench. “They are the kind of people who do not want the country to progress and we need to be cautious of them,” he said.
Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav made the remarks while delivering an address on the “Constitutional Necessity of Uniform Civil Code”, Live Law reported. “Only what benefits the welfare and happiness of the majority will be accepted,” Yadav said.
“UCC [Uniform Civil Code] isn’t something that VHP [Vishwa Hindu Parishad], RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] or Hinduism advocates,” he said. “The country’s top court also talks about it.”
He added: “I am taking an oath that this country will definitely bring a single law, and it will bring it very soon.”
The Uniform Civil Code is a proposed common set of laws governing marriage, divorce, succession and adoption for all citizens. Currently, such personal affairs of different religious and tribal groups – except in Uttarakhand and Goa – are based on community-specific laws, largely derived from religious scripture.
The Bharatiya Janata Party claims that a Uniform Civil Code would ensure equality and justice for women, who are often denied rights under patriarchal personal laws. Critics, however, argue that the move could lead to the personal law practices of minority communities being erased.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the parent organisation of the BJP.
In his speech on Sunday, Yadav said that practices like untouchability, sati and jauhar were abolished within Hinduism, and questioned why the Muslim community still allowed the practice of having multiple wives, Live Law reported.
The practice of sati, which was banned in 1829, involved women being forcibly burnt alive on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Jauhar was collective self-immolation performed by women and children.
Yadav claimed that the Hindu society had gotten rid of several “bad practices”. He added that there was nothing wrong in accepting the faults of a religion and correcting them with time.
“Every religion must shun all bad and evil practices on their own,” he said, according to The Hindu. “If they won’t do it, the country will bring a common law for all its citizens.”
He added: “You can’t disrespect a woman who is considered as a goddess in Hindu Shastras and Vedas. You can’t claim the right to have four wives, perform halala or triple talaq.”
Halala is a chance given to a divorced couple to get married to each other again, if they are both willing to do so.
The Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Marriage Act, 2019, criminalises instant triple talaq, and provides for imprisonment of up to three years for any man who seeks to divorce his wife in this manner. In this practice, a Muslim man could instantly divorce his wife by pronouncing “talaq” three times.
The judge also added that denying maintenance to women and other injustices would not work.
“We [Hindus] teach children to worship divinity and to chant Vedic hymns,” he said. “We teach them about non-violence…But how will your [Muslim] children learn tolerance and generosity when you slaughter animals in front of them?”
Yadav said that he respected his religion as a Hindu. However, he did have any “ill will” towards other religions or faith, the judge added.
“We do not expect you to take seven rounds [around the] fire while getting married,” Yadav said. “We don’t want you to take a dip in Ganga... But we expect you to not to disrespect the culture, gods and great leaders of the country.”
Following the event, advocate Indira Jaisingh, in a post on social media, called it a “shame for a sitting judge to actively participate in an event organised by a Hindu organisation on its political agenda”.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra also noted that a sitting judge’s participation at a Vishwa Hindu Parishad event came when the country was celebrating 75 years of the Constitution.
“Supreme Court, Hon’ble CJI [Chief Justice of India] – suo moto cognisance anyone?” she asked on microblogging platform X.
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