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Assam govt tables Bill to abolish existing Muslim marriage, divorce Act
Assam revenue and disaster management minister Jogen Mohan tabled the Assam Repealing Bill, 2024, aimed at abolishing the Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935
Guwahati: The Assam government on Thursday tabled in the assembly a new Bill to repeal the existing legislation regarding registration of Muslim marriages and divorces in the state on the ground that it had the scope to allow child marriages in the community.
Assam revenue and disaster management minister Jogen Mohan tabled the Assam Repealing Bill, 2024, aimed at abolishing the Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935, on the first day of the autumn session of the assembly.
In the statement of object and reasons for the move, the minister stated that earlier legislation was adopted by the British government prior to India’s independence, where it was not mandatory to register Muslim marriages and divorces.
“The registration of marriages and divorces is not mandatory, and the machinery of registration is informal, leaving a lot of scope for non-compliance of extant norms,” Mohan said.
He added that in the earlier legislation there was scope for registering marriages of men under 21 years and women under 18 years with no monitoring mechanism, leading to a lot of criminal and civil litigation.
“There is a scope of misuse by both authorised licensee (Muslim marriage registrars) as well as by citizens for underage/minor marriages and forcefully arranged marriages without the consent of the parties,” Mohan mentioned.
This comes after the Assam cabinet on Wednesday approved new legislation regulating registration of Muslim marriages and divorces.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the earlier law regulating Muslim marriages and weddings, the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act, 1935, will be repealed and replaced with the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriage and Divorce Bill, 2024.
The Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriage and Divorce Bill, 2024, will be tabled in the ongoing assembly session.
The earlier legislation provided for voluntary registration of Muslim marriages and divorces and allowed the government to provide a license to a Muslim person, authorising him to register Muslim marriages and divorces on applications for such registration. The cabinet had decided in February this year to repeal the existing legislation.
“Earlier Kazis (experts on Muslim scriptures) used to register Muslim marriages and divorces. With the introduction of the new legislation, these will have to be registered by government officials. The earlier Bill had the provision of registering marriages of minors as well; that will stop when the new legislation is enacted. This is an attempt to end child marriages in the state,” Sarma said.
All India United Democratic Front MLA Md Aminal Islam said that the new law is another tactic by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government to “divert public attention from other important issues”.
“The CM is trying to show that his government is trying to bring in some form of uniform civil code. Instead of bringing in a new law, the government could have made changes to the earlier law that allowed registration of child marriages. We have no issues if registration of marriages or divorces is made compulsory. The exact details of the new Bill will be known only after it is tabled in the assembly. Our party will have to first see its contents before deciding whether to oppose it or not,” he added.
