‘We owe nothing to the state’: Why this live-in couple is taking on Uttarakhand’s Uniform Civil Code

Just weeks before the Uttarakhand government tabled a bill to introduce a uniform civil code in the state in January 2024, a couple in a live-in relationship moved to Haldwani from Delhi.

A little over a year later, they find themselves in the first legal battle of their lives. Last month, they moved the Uttarakhand High Court against the Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand, 2024 – one among a slew of challenges that the law faces in court.

A Uniform Civil Code is a common set of laws governing marriage, divorce, succession and adoption for all Indians, regardless of their religious or tribal identities. But the UCC passed by Uttarakhand’s Bharatiya Janata Party government does not extend to tribal groups and imports heavily from Hindu laws.

Most crucially for the couple, it heavily intrudes into live-in relationships.

For instance, the law makes it mandatory for couples in a live-in relationship to register with state officials, who have been vested with the power to approve such relationships. Failing register invites a jail term of up to three months or a fine up to Rs 10,000 or both.

The couple has demanded that the entire section on live-in relationships in the UCC be declared unconstitutional and in violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of...

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