Overview
- The state cabinet unanimously approved the draft Uniform Civil Code and the government tabled the bill in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Monday, July 20, 2026, with debate scheduled to begin the next sitting day.
- The draft replaces religion-specific personal laws with a single statute that requires compulsory registration of marriages, recognises children from live-in relationships for inheritance and grants equal inheritance rights to sons and daughters.
- The bill declares monogamy the only valid marital form and criminalises practices such as triple talaq and nikah halala while imposing penalties for failing to register live-in relationships and for married persons who enter such relationships.
- The government says the draft was prepared by a committee led by retired Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai after public consultations that the state counts as nearly one million submissions, and it expressly exempts Scheduled Tribes and certain PVTG communities to protect customary rights.
- Opposition lawmakers protested loudly when the bill was tabled, forcing a short adjournment, and the measure now faces intense legislative scrutiny and likely legal and political challenges given its criminal provisions and selective tribal carve-outs.