DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 1243
“The Rivaj-i-Am is a public record, prepared by a public officer in the discharge of his duties under Governmet rules. The statements therein may be accepted even if unsupported by instances. Manuals of customary law in accordance with the Rivaj-i-Am have been issued by authority for each district.”
So, those customs are not carried orally that there can be dispute about them ; they are contained in public documents. At each settlement they are revised and scrutinised to see that everything is correct according to the custom that prevails. There is no danger about it. My fear is that we have been governed so long by a very simple law. We are told that it is now too late in the day that Punjabis should rise up and say that they are not governed by Hindu law. Of course, that is our claim. The Punjab Laws Act, clause 5, does define that we have been governed by customary law in preference to the Hindu law. Everybody knows the customary law and understands it well.
Dr. Ambedkar : This is much simpler than customary law.
Sardar Hukam Singh : We are told in one breath that we have so long been governed by Hindu law—well and good—but in another breath we are told that that was not the proper Hindu law. Hindu law is now rediscovered and a Code is being brought and thrust upon us. The law-giver says that this is the Hindu law. Where is the guarantee that this discovery might not lead to another after a few years and we may not be confronted with the statement that the law then being propounded was the correct one and everybody else who went before it had made a mistake. If it is progressiveness, we claim that our customs are more progressive than the law which is being proposed now. If progress is to be the criterion, then I say : don’t touch us. If you wish to move forward, we are already in advance of you. Come after us. Even in regard to marriage and divorce, we are far in advance of you. Do not pull us back. Laws should refect the stage to which the society has advanced and if the law-giver now thinks that we have advanced to this stage only now, then he is mistaken. If it is only for the sake of bringing about uniformity, then too I am afraid he would not succeed. The variations in the customs and usages, in the cultures and languages, cannot be blended together in so short a time.
An appeal was made to the Sikhs yesterday that they should forget the old days and try to become part of the nation. That is a thing that we would cherish. We are not opposed to it. but if Dr. Ambedkar cares to listen to me ...