The Supreme Court on Friday, July 31, sought the Centre’s response on a plea seeking to have polygamy among Muslims declared unconstitutional and asking for a direction to Parliament to abolish the practice for all citizens, irrespective of religion.Polygamy, the plea said, was a “primary driver of female destitution.” The petition noted that bigamy is a criminal offence for Hindus, Christians and Parsis under their personal laws as well as the penal code, while Muslim men are permitted up to four wives under the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937. It argued that the Constitution did not grant blanket protection to personal laws that were arbitrary or unjust, nor did it place them beyond the reach of the legislature or the judiciary. The plea also pointed to Uttarakhand’s implementation of the Uniform Civil Code and Gujarat‘s planned adoption of it, alongside Assam‘s separate stance on polygamy, to argue that a uniform code remained a feasible goal despite the Supreme Court’s repeated observations on the issue over the years.