Uniform civil code in the context of Directive Principles

The legal system of India consists of civil law, common law, customary law, religious law and corporate law within the legal framework inherited from the colonial era and various legislation first introduced by the British are still in effect in modified forms today. Since the drafting of the Indian Constitution, Indian laws also adhere to the United Nations guidelines on human rights law and the environmental law.Personal law is fairly complex, with each religion adhering to its own specific laws. In most states, registering of marriages and divorces is not compulsory. Separate laws govern Hindus including Sikhs, Jains and Buddhist, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, and followers of other religions. The exception to this rule is in the state of Goa, where a uniform civil code is in place, in which all religions have a common law regarding marriages, divorces, and adoption. On February 7, 2024, the Indian state of Uttarakhand also incorporated a uniform civil code. In the first major reformist judgment for the 2010s, the Supreme Court of India banned the Islamic practice of "Triple Talaq" (a husband divorcing his wife by pronouncing the word "Talaq" thrice). The landmark Supreme Court of India judgment was welcomed by women's rights activists across India.

As of August 2024, there are about 891 Central laws as per the online repository hosted by the Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Further, there are many State laws for each state, which can also be accessed from the same repository.

Triple talaq (instant divorce) and talaq-e-mughallazah (irrevocable divorce) were a type of Islamic divorce previously available to Muslims in India, especially adherents of Hanafi Sunni Islamic schools of jurisprudence. A Muslim man could legally divorce his wife by proclaiming three times consecutively the word talaq (the Arabic word for "divorce") (in spoken, written or, more recently, electronic form).

The use and status of triple talaq in India has been a subject of controversy and debate. Those questioning the practice have raised issues of justice, gender equality, human rights and secularism. The debate has involved the Government of India and the Supreme Court of India, and is connected to the debate about a uniform civil code (Article 44) in India. On 22 August 2017, the Indian Supreme Court deemed instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddah) unconstitutional. Three of the five judges in the panel concurred that the practice of triple talaq is unconstitutional. The remaining two declared the practice to be constitutional. On 30 July 2019, the Parliament of India declared the practice of triple talaq illegal and unconstitutional and made it a crime from 1 August 2019. Three of India's neighbouring countries — Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka — are among the 23 countries worldwide that have banned triple talaq. The Quran describes mechanisms for avoiding hasty divorces, prescribing two waiting periods of three months before the divorce is final in order to give the husband time to reconsider his decision. A bench of the Supreme Court of India has stated that the practice of divorce for Muslim men through, "Talaq-e-Hasan" which is pronounced once a month over a period of three months is allowed and a Muslim woman can also part ways with her husband through "khula (mutually agreed divorce)".