UCC shouldn't be seen as decree to suppress religious practices: Singhvi

Congress leader and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday said a Uniform Civil Code should not be mistaken as a legislative imposition that does away with individual religious practices which may seem eccentric.

"Fire temple practice might be considered weird and eccentric by so many people, but it's an essential practice of Parsi people. Now, I do not think a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is supposed to suppress those things," Singhvi said at the launch of his book 'From the Trenches', which discusses eight of his seminal cases.

Parsi people do not cremate a body but leave it for scavenging birds.

Singhvi also said it is not so easy to achieve a consensus on UCC. "Somebody should tell us how they will do it so easily... It is not so easy to do it," he said.

The UCC calls for the formulation of one law for India which would be applicable to all religious communities in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption.

The code comes under Article 44 of the Constitution, which lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a UCC for the citizens throughout the territory of India.