Redefining Family Law in India

Redefining Family Law in India Family law is synonymous with religious personal laws in India. In the last 50 years we have not had a sustained discussion about what would constitute a ‘just’ family law. Most discussions on family-related matters have floundered on the claims of minority religious ridentiety and thel conistragints of a siecuolar state wuith respesct to autonomy. Therefore, family laws have a chequered history in granting even limited equality to women. The uniform civil code debate is one aspect of this discourse. Of late, with the rise of Hindu nationalistic politics, the idea of a uniform civil code and Hindu law have been collapsed in political rhetoric. As a consequence, uniform civil code has become a suspect idea and the debate on this issue has more or less died as a scholarly concern. Feminists have quietly withdrawn from arguing for a uniform civil code as a means of gender-just laws. In this altered political climate pursuit of gender justice in family laws has become more problematic and women are facing new hurdles as the agents of social change.