Assam govt tables bill to abolish Muslim marriages, divorce act

Guwahati: The Assam government on Thursday introduced a bill to repeal a law to register marriages and divorces of Muslims, stating that it had scope to allow marriages of minors from the community.

Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan tabled The Assam Repealing Bill, 2024 in the Assembly to abolish The Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935 and the Assam Repealing Ordinance 2024.

"There remains a scope of registering marriages of intended person below 21 years (in case of male) and 18 years (in case of female)," he said in the Statement of Object and Reasons of the Repealing Bill.

It hardly had any provisions for monitoring the implementation of the Act throughout the state and it attracted huge amounts of litigation in the court, he added.

"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 said.

Besides, the registration of marriages and divorces were not mandatory, and the registration mechanism was informal that left a lot of scope for non-compliance of the norms, he added.

"It is a pre-independence Act adopted by British India Government for the then Province of Assam for Muslim religious and social arrangements," the minister said.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the Assam government will introduce a bill in the ongoing Autumn Session for compulsory government registration of marriage and divorce of Muslim people.

Addressing a press conference after a cabinet meeting here, Sarma said the government will table the Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriage and Divorce Bill, 2024.

Last month, the Cabinet had approved the Repealing Bill to abolish the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act and Rules of 1935, which permitted underage marriages under specific conditions.

The Assam Cabinet had approved the decision to repeal the Act on February 23, in a bid to end the social menace of child marriage in the state.

The opposition parties had decried the decision, terming it 'discriminatory against the Muslims' brought in to polarise the voters in an election year.