Overview
- The bill, which was tabled by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Atul Bora on Monday, May 25, 2026, was introduced for on‑record discussion and is expected to be taken up for consideration and likely passage in the next Assembly sitting.
- Key provisions impose compulsory registration of marriages, divorces and live‑in relationships, set minimum marriage ages at 21 for men and 18 for women, and create a gender‑equal order for intestate succession.
- The draft makes monogamy mandatory and links bigamy and polygamy to criminal penalties of up to seven years' imprisonment, with fines and jail terms attached to failure to register or to fraudulent marriages.
- The law expressly exempts Scheduled Tribes and preserves ritual forms of marriage while including a savings clause to regularize polygamous unions solemnized before the UCC comes into force.
- The move has drawn protests and calls for wider stakeholder consultation from opposition parties and at least ten Muslim organisations, and it follows similar UCC initiatives in Uttarakhand and Gujarat that have raised legal and minority‑rights concerns.