Personal Laws in India
Structure, Diversity, and Reform
India currently has a pluralistic personal law system: citizens are governed by religion-specific personal laws for matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, and maintenance. The major personal law systems are: Hindu personal law (codified in four Acts in 1955–56), Muslim personal law (largely uncodified, governed by the Muslim Personal Law [Shariat] Application Act, 1937), Christian personal law (Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872; Indian Divorce Act, 1869), Parsi personal law (Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936), and Jewish personal law (customary). The Special Marriage Act, 1954 provides a secular, religion-neutral framework for inter-faith or civil marriages. A UCC would replace or harmonise these varied regimes with a single uniform code applying equally to all citizens regardless of religion.
- Hindu personal law codified: Hindu Marriage Act (1955), Hindu Succession Act (1956), Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (1956), Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (1956).
- Muslim personal law: Governed primarily by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937.
- Triple Talaq: Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Shayara Bano v. Union of India (2017); Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 criminalised it.
- Special Marriage Act, 1954: Civil, religion-neutral framework for marriage.
- Personal laws vs. UCC: Personal laws are the subject of Entry 5, List III (Concurrent List) — "marriage and divorce; infants and minors; adoption; wills, intestacy and succession."
- Uttarakhand UCC, 2024: Does not apply to Scheduled Tribes (Section 2 exclusion).
● Tracked since March 24, 2026 · last seen July 04, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes