The Assam government on Thursday introduced a Bill to repeal a law on the registration of Muslim marriages and divorces.
State minister Jogen Mohan tabled the 2024 Assam Repealing Bill in the Legislative Assembly to abolish the Assam Moslem Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935.
Assam Compulsory Registration of Muslim Marriage and Divorce Bill, 2024, will be introduced as a replacement.
The existing Act allows registrars operating in the districts to grant licences to Muslim persons to register marriages and divorces in line with Muslim personal law.
“There is a scope of misuse by both authorised licensees (Muslim marriage registrars) as well as by citizens for underage/minor marriages and forcefully arranged marriages without the consent of the parties,” said minister Mohan.
“The new law will not impact the conduct of Muslim marriages and divorces. It will only entail the registration of marriages and divorces by government officials instead of qazis [experts on Muslim scriptures] apart from stopping the registration of marriage of minors,” said Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who was accused of implementing anti-Muslim policies and programs in the north eastern state.
This comes six months after the state Cabinet approved the Assam Repealing Ordinance, 2024, to quash the 1935 Act.
Last year, Assam Police launched a crackdown on child marriages, arbitrarily arresting more than 4,000 persons, (most of them are Muslims) under either the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act or the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. The move was widely criticised as “discriminatory” and “Islamophobic.”’
